This Saturday, get your green on

This Saturday is the annual Clean Sweep program.

By Alan Madeleine

Grab your brooms, all you witches, chimney sweeps and janitors!

And anyone else, for that matter, who’s so inclined. Hamtramck’s 7th annual street cleaning day, known as “Clean Sweep,” is upon us.

It’s a one-day-only event happening tomorrow, Saturday (April 28), rain or shine — it’s actually forecast to be sunny, if a bit cool — and organizers are hoping for another good turnout, as in years past.

Particularly gratifying, said social work and city council intern Kari Kildow, would be to see a multi-cultural presence show up together, hence the printing off of flyers in English, Polish, Bengali, Arabic and Bosnian.
“We’d love to see all of Hamtramck represented,” Kildow said.

The way it works is this: You show up at one of two meeting spots at 9 a.m., either on the north end of town at the Acts 29 Church at 12101 Jos. Campau, or else on the south end at People’s Community Services (PCS) at 8625 Jos. Campau. Hamtramck DPW will actually supply a number of clean-up items, as will Sterling Oil, an informal sponsor.

Former Councilperson Catrina Stackpoole has been instrumental in helping to coordinate the project the past few years, according to Kildow.

From there, many volunteers will stick to the main drags in town, such as Jos. Campau, Caniff, Holbrook and Conant. Side streets and alleyways are expected to be dealt with regularly by the appropriate home and business owners.

Each block club that is involved will have identified specific areas within which they would like to see the clean-up concentrated. In years past, many participants have worked on, or near, the block they live.

In truth, the day is a short one – by 12:30, everyone is invited to retire back to PCS for a pizza lunch, donated by Arif Huskic at Interfaith. City council was asked to donate soda, but it was not known whether they had agreed to do so at press time.

In any event, after lunch, according to Kildow, the day is done.

If you prefer, the Hamtramck Schools are also hosting their own version of the day, according to the posters. You can go to either Holbrook Elementary (2361 Alice), Dickinson East Elementary (3385 Norwalk) or Kosciuszko Middle School (2333 Burger) at 8 a.m. to help clean up their grounds, or, if you opt for the street cleaning but still have energy to burn after lunch, you can head over to Hamtramck High (11410 Charest) or the Early Childhood Center (11680 McDougall) at any point after 12:30 p.m., and help out at those locations.

Here’s hoping you can make it, whichever way you choose to do it.

Because in Hamtramck, green equals good.