Thursday, March 30, 2000
Colerain gets spring cleanup
Focus includes gateways
BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLERAIN TOWNSHIP — Township residents are working to clean up and landscape the gateways into the township, saying community gateways create first impressions and can be a reflection of an area's civic spirit.
Everything from picking up litter to landscaping and planting flower bulbs has kept the Colerain Community Association busy for almost two years.
In about two weeks, the group will again join with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful, a nonprofit regional beautification advocacy group that works with communities throughout the area on cleanup projects, to bring the effort to the township.
From 8 to 11 a.m. April 15, the association will be working at the township's three gateways, picking up trash, as part of the Great American Cleanup.
The gateways are Interstate 275 and Colerain Avenue, I-275 and Hamilton Avenue and the Ronald Reagan Highway and Colerain Avenue.
“Our goal is to get enough people that we can thoroughly clean the area,” said Mary Ellen Moeller, one the association's founders, “really make Colerain Township look good for the spring.”
The association's members already head out monthly along the gateways and collect about 60 bags of litter. The difference is that the April 15 cleanup is part of a regional effort to spruce up communities and is intended to encourage even more participation.
Association members will encourage scout and church groups, civic groups and neighbors to participate in the Great American Cleanup.
The association got started in June 1998 as an outgrowth of the campaign that Trustee Diana Lynn Rielage conducted in 1997 when she was running for the board of trustees. She would take the names of people who complained about problems in the community.
“There were some people who approached me and said, "Colerain Avenue looks terrible; we need to do something,'” said Mrs. Rielage. “So I wrote down their names and phone numbers and asked after the election, "Were you serious or were you just complaining?' They were serious.”
Ms. Moeller said the association started with just eight people and has grown to 40 to 50.
This spring they will landscape the east side of that gateway with more than 200 trees, shrubs, perennials and flowering bulbs.
“When something looks bad, people don't think anything about making it look worse,” said Ms. Moeller. “We'd like to reverse that trend. People feel good enough about their township to want to make a constructive difference.”
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