Mesa project: Cleaner streets, safer streets

On a quiet residential street in Mesa Saturday morning, three teenaged boys crouched with spray paint cans at the ready only a few feet from police officers.

One of them sprayed, marking the street with white paint, and fully following the letter of the law.

Hundreds of volunteers swarmed residential areas, apartments, fields and parks in Mesa to clear debris, spray paint addresses on curbs, refurbish homes and cover graffiti.

The event, billed the Morning of Service, brought out what city officials described as 600 volunteers to targeted communities within districts 2 and 5.

Council member Alex Finter, who represents District 2 where much of the cleanup work was done, said that he believed clean streets equate to safer streets.

“This is a great opportunity for residents to make a difference in their neighborhoods and help reduce blight and crime,” Finter said.

Graffiti and other forms of blight are what brought resident Tanya Smith out to participate in the early-morning community project.

In fact, she brought about 30 friends along from her church’s singles group.

“Whenever I see graffiti in the community, I am saddened because it shows they don’t care about the neighborhood,” Smith said of the so-called artists, whom she described as more scofflaws.

Smith, who helped paint addresses near 10th avenue and Mesa Drive, said what she was doing was the furthest thing from graffiti. Her marks meant something — and helped homeowners by clearly identifying their addresses.

Mesa resident Justin Royer said after about three hours of hard work volunteering he felt it was well worth it.

“I thought it sounded like a good idea and it worked out great,” said the 22-year-old, full-time student and cross country runner at Mesa Community College.

“I live three miles north of where we actually did the volunteer work, but I remember running through that neighborhood a couple times and feeling that it needed help,” he said of an enclave near Mesa Drive and Fifth Avenue. “Even though I don’t live near there, I still felt that I should help.”

Near the Kokopalms apartments, sandwiched between University Drive and Main Street near Mesa Drive, groups of volunteers cleared a corner lot littered with debris from a fallen tree, while a small band of teenagers neatly spray-painted house numbers on the curb.

Volunteer coordinator Katie Brown said some of the target areas also received a helping hand from local police, who worked in partnership with municipal officials to staff the cleanup teams.

Brown said there were 29 different projects during the event, which started at 7:30 a.m. and ended about 11 a.m.

She said volunteers will get another city-sponsored chance to clean Mesa’s streets in February, when the city holds its second Top 2 Bottom event, which will include a variety of beautification and cleanup projects in several districts.

Volunteer

For more information about volunteering for the February Top 2 Bottom event, contact the Mesa Neighborhood Services Department at (480) 644-3705.