Groups uniting to clean up Westwood
By Kenan Frager
April 3, 2008 10:51 p.m.
The first annual Westwood Village Beautification Day will occur Saturday April 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. due to growing concerns about the state of cleanliness in the Village.
Governmental and private concerns have led the office of Councilmember Jack Weiss and J.S. Rosenfield & Co. to be the two main organizers of the cleanup.
The beautification will occur within the heart of the Westwood Village area, bordered by Le Conte, Kinross, Gayley and Hilgard avenues, said Maria Luisa Camacho, an employee of J.S. Rosenfield & Co., a Westwood property managing group.
“We will focus on street cleanup like garbage and cigarette butts in tree stumps,” she added.
Along with student and community volunteers, the City of Los Angeles is supporting the effort through labor and supplies.
“We will hopefully have graffiti removed from a representative of Operation Clean Sweep, which is a city-run organization,” Camacho said.
The Community Beautification Office, a division of the Public Works Department has allocated cleaning supplies for the volunteers, said Evan Gordon, a field deputy at Weiss’ office.
As an incentive for students to attend, each volunteer will participate in a raffle, and prizes will be awarded.
“We have everything from gift certificates to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Chili’s, Ralphs, CPK, Diddy Riese, Piccomolo, Tengu Sushi, to products from Bliss Spa,” Camacho said.
Along with these prizes, each volunteer will receive a free T-shirt from American Apparel.
“Hopefully we will look as a unified force when we are cleaning together,” Camacho said.
The Stand on Westwood Boulevard has offered free lunches for all volunteers at 1 p.m. after the cleanup, she added.
Weiss created the project in an attempt to beautify the area.
“It is a high priority for Jack to revitalize Westwood Village, and we hope to do it every year,” Gordon said.
The plan’s success hinges on support from Westwood volunteers.
“We have been working on this for months and have community support and support from UCLA,” he added.
Many student groups, including the Undergraduate Students Association Council, Environmental Bruins and Student Activist Project, are providing the volunteer manpower for the event.
“I live here, it’s where I coexist. If we make the environment around us beautiful, it shows people we care,” said Leslie Sham, a second-year international development studies and history student who is involved in the Student Activist Project and Queer Alliance.
If students show interest in the environment, the school may be pushed toward taking further steps in supporting environmental awareness, she said.
“The school is already moving toward energy saving light bulbs, maybe this will push them to use more green economy,” she added.
She said she plans on going to Westwood with a group of friends Saturday morning to clean up.
“A lot of the people in my activist group are interested, and the more the merrier,” Sham said.
The more people that care initially, the more people will jump on the bandwagon, and the cause will grow in strength exponentially, she said.
And the prospect of rain has not dampened her spirits.
“Rain is just rain. We live in California; a little rain won’t hurt us once in a while,” Sham said.
The organizers of the event said they do not think rain will be a factor.
“I’ve looked at the weather reports, and it’s not supposed to rain, but we will cross that bridge if we get there,” Gordon said.
The project should continue as planned on Saturday morning in an effort to encourage Westwood residents to do their part.
“The goal is to show everyone in the Village we care and want to keep it as clean as possible, to make people feel proud of the Village area,” Camacho said.
