- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
Rain delays (and occasional flurries) messed a little with my April plans. We got in three Little Wagon tours and a few butt blitz pick-ups between the drops, but really – nothing is worse than a wet butt.
Together local “blitzers” collected over 20,000 cigarette butts and other vaping and smoking paraphernalia which are being sent to Terracycle for recycling into plastic things like pallets and park benches. That's 20,000 + that did not go into our water system!
I didn't tell you about the Alpha Street tour. Because we enjoyed the company of Raven the Wonder Dog along with her fearless litter-picker human, we made it a good 3-buckets-of-garbage-and -hundreds-of-butts-pick-up tour. Our only challenge is what to with the garbage picked up on city land, with no city garbage recepacles along the route.
Starting at the bottom for the first leg, we were greeted by a local resident who said she regularly cleans up her “wind tunnel” neighbourhood. We found the usual cups, bottles and food wrappers– some of which had been tossed where we found it, but much of which, particularly plastic bags, had blown in a west wind until it was caught by the trees and scrub.
We passed the concrete slab and metal anchors remaining from the removal of a garbage can and bench on the hill. The road and sidewalk are being reconstructed in 2024 and 2025, and locals at the public meeting asked for a new resting bench to be included in the plans.
Starting at the top to pick down an hour later, a woman pointed at the bucket and said “You don't need to do that – I was going out later to do it.” Great people looking after their neighbourhood.
The homes on Alpha Street have been built over many decades and represent the changes in our community, from the old red brick homes and repurposed hospital buildings at the bottom to “Owen Sound's first fully accessible adult lifestyle residence” in the former doctors' offices to the community gardens and youth pavilion at Grey County's Alpha Street apartments at the top.
There will undoubtedly be challenges in the design, engineering and reconstruction of Alpha Street. Slopes on either side, existing power lines and houses, water flow, intersections and the steep hill itself are all elements that must be taken into consideration.
(Just one of the things you do not notice from a driver's seat – a glimpse of the Potawatomi River through the trees made me stop and smile.)
This Saturday, May 6, we'll meet at the east side boat launch at 1 p.m. and walk along the harbour to the dog park. Future Little Wagon Tours will be along the west harbour from the Gitche Namewikwedong bridge at 10th Street to the Gitche Namewikwedong Reconciliation Garden in Kelso Beach at Nawash Park and through Victoria Park and St George's Park. Those dates and times TBA.
