Although Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had a head start on the Boston Shines initiative by sweeping outside in City Hall Plaza, on Friday and Saturday residents throughout Boston can participate in the yearly neighborhood cleanup and volunteer program.
The city will provide volunteers with tools and materials to clean up their neighborhoods during the weekend, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
“Boston Shines is a true community event as thousands of volunteers and residents gather each year to help clean up our city and show pride in their neighborhoods,” Menino said in the release.
The focus of the cleaning efforts is on neighborhood business districts and recreational areas, said Katie Ward, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office.
Now entering its 10th year, this community-wide effort normally receives a good turnout and is expecting to see about 6,000 people, said Chris English, the Dorchester neighborhood coordinator in the city’s Office of Neighborhood Services.
“The purpose of this event is to get people from across the city involved in cleaning up their neighborhood,” English said.
English said there are no real challenges to Boston Shines this year.
“We are pretty experienced in coordinating the whole thing,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting the volunteers the materials they need and organizing on the back end.”
Many neighborhood associations around Boston are joining in the effort. Groups such as the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council, the Chester Square Area Neighborhood Association and the Garden Club of the Back Bay are encouraging residents to participate in the initiative on their websites.
The Neighborhood Association of Back Bay is also coordinating the annual Alley Rally with this year’s Boston Shines, according to the NABB website.
“NABB members are encouraged to join their neighbors, including groups from the fraternities of some of our Back Bay schools, in sweeping the alleys and side streets,” according to a statement emailed to The Daily Free Press.
But the 2012 initiative will include more than cleaning – as a part of Boston Shines, the Boston Transportation Department is offering free towing of junk vehicles from private property, according to the release.
Residents can call Menino’s office for the removal of junk vehicles.
“I strongly encourage anyone who owns one of these vehicles, or has one of these vehicles abandoned on their property in Boston, to take advantage of this opportunity, contact us, and we will make sure that the vehicle is towed out of the city, crushed and recycled as scrap metal,” Menino said.
English said this year the city is also starting a “major crosswalk repainting initiative” as part of Boston Shines.
Anybody can take part in Boston Shines by registering with the Office of Neighborhood Services, which has also taken to the Internet to get the word out.
“Our newest initiative this year is to involve social media,” English said. “We have new Twitter and Facebook campaigns and a social media outreach team that we have never had in the past.”
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