My most ambitious clean-up ever was a smashing success this past Sunday.
I was motivated by the first-ever Coast-to-Coast bike ride down Beggs Road to Rose Avenue and into the Wekiva Trail coming on May 13th. Cyclists are paying $750 for a guided tour from Pinellas County to Titusville. Riders enter Orange County by Oakland and remain on the West Orange Trail until they reach Lakeville Road. The Florida Department of Transportation has not finished this gap, and riders are choosing to travel north on Lakeville Road and east along Beggs Road, north on Rose Avenue, and then cross SR-414 into Seminole County.
When I started planning the West Beggs Road clean-up, I had many problems with which to contend. Two neighborhoods had moldy walls. The fences were in disrepair. Trees were never trimmed, and weeds and pine straws were everywhere. Erosion on the hills, and I could go on….
One volunteer, Kelly Baumier, posted something on NextDOOR about our plight. Soon a pressure-wash company volunteered to clean up the Willow Creek subdivision wall. However, the vines and vegetation obscured it, but Bill Archer from People of Lockhart fixed this problem.
The Summerbrook subdivision needed much attention as well.
I had the county trim back the bushes hanging over the sidewalk. Bill Archer came by and sprayed the mold. Lindsay from People of Lockhart (POL) knocked on doors to secure hoses for pressure washing. Mateo and Sandy agreed to bring their paint sprayer, and I purchased some paint with leftover campaign money.
Well, we didn’t have enough, and I really couldn’t spend any more. Ultimately, the two awesome residents who had responded by providing hoses pressure washed the wall and raised the remaining funds needed to purchase more paint! They also found more men in the community to step up with sprayers and finished painting the wall on the same day.
Many steps were taken to upgrade one neighborhood wall. It took a team, but the community itself ultimately finished the task. I could not be happier.
I mentioned the lovely hills. However, with hills, you get erosion.
Another call to Orange County Public Works. The team came out, dumped dirt, and laid five pallets of sod in just one location. I’m crossing my fingers they can finish another section or two. Sand on sidewalks is dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists.
I picked up four live oaks from the Apopka Foliage Festival. These trees were planted in front of a pond at Beggs and Armstrong roads. If you want pedestrians and cyclists to love your street, you must have shade trees. Thank you, Frank, Kelly, and Brenda, for planting and keeping the trees watered for six months.
Planting heritage trees is a labor of love.
The final step was a big one. I knocked on the residents' doors to see if they would let us stain their fences. I did quite well, and one family even came out to watch our effort. I also invited the Salem Adventist Church to participate, and the Pastor graciously sent me a dozen volunteers! This was significant because we wouldn’t have finished the work without them.
Several more volunteers participated from People of Lockhart - Greg, Bill, Rick, and Lucy. We also had three folks from the North Pine Hills area – Cara, Ross, and Dale. The crew from the church trimmed trees, raked pine straw, and painted a good section of the fence by hand. The final piece was Lucy and her granddaughter, Ava, utilizing a stencil to paint several sunflowers on the freshly-stained fences!
It was a large undertaking when you consider this was a bonus clean-up in preparation for the Coast-to-Coast Bike Ride on Saturday, May 13th. We completed all the planned tasks on one Sunday morning. It was such a blessing.
If you wish to join me this coming Saturday morning, I will be pressure washing with the People of Lockhart team on East Beggs and Eden Park roads. The following Saturday, May 20th, I will return to Apopka on Votaw Road at Christiana. We will clean the LK McCoy Forest wall and paint the Votaw Village wall.
I really need more people. Please contact my office at 407.836.5850 if you can help.
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MamaMia
Why do these chores on a Sunday? I thought you received a pressure washer for a gift? Why didn't you use yours? All this knocking on doors begging for resident's hoses, and begging for help, and begging for funds for paint, wow...I wasn't aware that Orange County is so broke, that their commissioners have to infiltrate the neighborhoods, with door to door begging. Our City of Apopka CRA have funds for these type things, I guess Orange County doesn't.
Tuesday, May 9 Report this
MamaMia
Christine, politics aside, and mean that very sincerely, please be very careful cleaning up along the trails, and along the roads, and neighborhood entrances. The reason I say this, is my neighborhood boys had this enormous big snake out in their front yard, and it got loose from them, and they were trying to catch it, and it is ended up in our street, and was lunging at them! They said they had to try to it catch again.
...they were surrounding it, and several boys were trying to catch it. I yelled what kind of snake is it, and he said it was a red rat snake. Man, it was huge, very long! It scared the crap out of me, to be honest. He told my husband he caught it near the Apopka dog park, trail, and Sun Belt nursing home, and he was going to try to take it back, and release it Please be careful Christine, with your grandchild, and volunteers, honestly, I don't want no one to get snake bitten.
Thursday, May 11 Report this