Boulevard Woods

Trash Pick-Up and (Belated) Birthday Party

On Saturday, March 20--the first day of Spring--a small crew of us volunteers picked the Barber St. site clean of litter, and hauled-out a small plastic pool, a purple bra, several feet of plastic tubing, an ancient car battery and many pounds more of assorted junk. We also removed a pile of tree limbs and relocated some stumps and larger logs for potential future use.

Oh yes, and we still had time to chat with Commissioner Kelly Girtz, who stopped by on his own trash pick-up rounds, and to present a birthday/thank you cake, card and flowers to a helpful neighbor.

Here are photos from Saturday, March 20's work day/birthday party:

Katie Medina poses with trash pinchers and garbage bag.

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Henry Parker prefers to pick trash by hand and uses a bucket.

Eric Heil invents a labor-saving log-rolling technique.

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Rachel Watkins helps sort tree limbs. We kept the bigger logs and stumps for possible future use for the park. You can glimpse the trash and junk we collected behind Rachel. (I meant to take a photo of that, but forget to.)

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Charles "Trucker Charlie" Apostolik chauffeured the trash, tree limbs along with a couple volunteers to help with unloading, to Athens Clarke-Co. Landscape Division's recycling, trash and yard waste bins located on the West end of Boulevard.

Barber Street Park Project volunteers Dan Lorentz and Marci White present a cake and flowers to Ms Ida Mae Griffin. Ms Griffin lives in the yellow house on Barber St. right next to the site. She turned 91 earlier in March, and has been a neighbor to the site for decades.

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Ida Mae with cake and card. The cake and card were sponsored by the Boulevard Neighborhood Association. The flowers (in the photo above) were donated by Eppie Boze, a park volunteer and neighborhood resident.

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Ida Mae and her daughter Tennie Brookins. Ms Griffin and Ms Brookins have been very generous in allowing the park project volunteers to use their driveway to access the site.

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Spring Cleaning volunteers included: Charles Apostolik, Eppie Boze, Eric Heil, Dan Lorentz, Katie Medina, Henry Parker, Rachel Watkins and Marci White.

Special thanks to: Stacee Farrell, executive director of Keep Athens-Clarke Co. Beautiful, for loaning us trash pinchers, buckets and trash bags. Roger Cauthen, Athens-Clarke Co. Landscape Management Division, for arranging access to recycling, trash and yard waste bins. Bruce Lonnee, Athens-Clarke Co. Planning Department, for approving an Environmental Areas Permit for our continuing limited cleaning and trimming work on the site. Boulevard Neighborhood Association for sponsoring the cake. Ida Mae Griffin and Tennie Brookins, once again, for use of their driveway.

Photos of Site Map at BNA Neighborhood Party

A newly created map showing existing conditions and an old aerial photograph of the Barber St. site on display during a Feb. 27 Neighborhood Party organized by the Boulevard Neighborhood Association. The party took place at Little Kings, a bar on W. Hancock St.

Allen Stovall, a landscape architect and professor emeritus of UGA's College of Environment and Design, answering questions about the site and the park project. The map was created by Henry Parker, an architect, landscape architect and planner, and Stovall.

NOTE: Sorry for the poor photo quality. These are cell phone shots. I forgot my "real" camera. I also wish I had taken a shot showing how many people were at the party--there was a really good crowd--but the party distracted me!

Gone in 64,800 Seconds

A brush pile moved curbside Sunday afternoon was gone Monday morning. The pile stayed curbside for from roughly 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14 till about 8 a.m.  Monday, Feb. 15--that's 64,800 seconds or 18 hours--when workers in Athens-Clarke Co.'s Solid Waste Department removed it as part of their normally scheduled leaf and limb pick-up rounds in the Boulevard neighborhood.

UPDATE: Stacee Farrell, executive director of the Keep Athens-Clarke Co. Beautiful program, reports that the brush pile we created weighed 1.83 tons.

Thanks to Solid Waste for the fast service, and heavy-lifting!

Sunday

Monday

Operation "Move Brush Pile"

Greg Denzin, operating a small excavator, moved a massive brush pile at the Barber St. park site curbside on Sunday, Feb. 14.  Moving the pile will make it easier for  Athens-Clarke Co.'s Solid Waste department to remove it this coming week, when Boulevard neighborhood is scheduled for a periodic leaf and limb pick-up.

It took Denzin and his equipment less than an hour to move the brush pile. Denzin, who owns G&G Landscape Design, tries to minimize his environmental impact. His John Deere excavator runs on bio-diesel, and he insisted on scattering some grass seeds and pine needles to cover tread tracks.

The brush pile before the move

Where the piled used to be

Waiting curbside for leaf and limb pick-up

Thanks Greg!

Thanks as well to Stacee Farrell, executive director of Keep Athens-Clarke Co. Beautiful, and Roger Cauthen in Athens-Clarke Co. Landscape Management Division for helping to coordinate the leaf and limb pick-up.

While the volunteer work day originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 13 had to be canceled due to snow, Bruce and Jane Travis were prepared to provide some very nice refreshments for volunteer workers; Shawn Doonan of Tarzan Tree Care was poised to offer help and equipment and Ben Myers of 1000 Faces Coffee was set--for the second weekend now--to provide free coffee for the volunteers. Thanks to Bruce, Jane and Shawn and Ben!

Snow Day

Do you have any shots of the Barber St. park site in snowy glory? If so, please send them to me at lorentz.d@gmail.com.

Work Day 2: New Areas Cleared, Trails Blazed

After postponing for a week because of bad weather, volunteers resumed clearing work Sat. Feb. 6 at the Barber St. site.

The ground was sodden, the wind cold and the work day shortened (to allow the ground to drain off a little from heavy rains the night before) but volunteers generated big brush piles while clearing three new areas and pushed forward on trail blazing. Once again 13 people showed up to help, but most were new faces.

Here are photos from Work Day 2:

Karen Freed and Eric Heil haul brush to a pile

Cat Dunleavy pries a Honeysuckle shrub from the ground

Kelly Ridenhour gathers cut vines

David Shillcut with loppers

Gary Crider with tarp

Anna Claire Davis near wall in newly cleared area

Stella, Anna Claire Davis's dog, taking in the scene

Jim Okey clearing out brush

Kevan Williams and Abby Moore on their way up to dump a load of brush

Dan Lorentz tries to cut a vine

Work in the lower terraces as viewed from top level of site

One of the three newly cleared areas

Work Day 2 Volunteers included: "Chainsaw" Charles Apostolik, Gary Crider, Anna Claire Davis, Cat Dunleavy, Karen Freed, Eric Heil, Dan Lorentz, Abby Moore, James Okey, Kelly Ridenhour, David Shillcutt, Stella, Allen Stovall, Kevan Williams

Special thanks to:  Robert Gunn for supplying some yummy sandwiches.

Volunteers Start Clearing Work

On Saturday, Jan. 23, thirteen volunteers started clearing and surveying work on the Barber St. site.  Here are a few photos from that day and some before-and-after shots.

Clearing and surveying work

Allen Stovall whacks weeds.

Marci White with pruners.

Chase Lawrence cuts a downed tree limb.

Greg Denzin (left), Lori Ringhand and Robert Gunn haul a log.

Katherine Melcher (left), Henry Parker and Kevan Williams add notations to a site survey map.

Krysia Haag with tarp.

Before

After

The First Thirteen Volunteers included: Greg Denzin, Matt Elliot, Robert Gunn, Krysia Haag, Chase Lawrence, Dan Lorentz, Katherine Melcher, Henry Parker, Lori Ringhand, Allen Stovall, Justin Widener, Kevan Williams and Marci White.

Special thanks to: Bruce and Jane Travis for supplying snacks, Ida Mae Griffin and Tennie Brookins for use of their driveway and Shawn Doonan of Tarzan Tree Care for the chipper and chipping crew.