The Ellis South End Neighborhood Association is working to improve the cleanliness of the local sidewalks and streets with four major initiatives underway:

1. Partner with the City of Boston, local businesses, and residents to purchase more BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors for the neighborhood.

The BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors have proven effective in their deployment thus far on Tremont Street (see bigbellysolar.com). Key features include:

• A solar-powered compacting engine that holds a large amount of trash in a small fotpring
• A self-contained structure that eliminates overflows and wind-driven trash dispersal
• A front receptacle that locks when the machine is full and is small enough to make it difficult for people to insert residential trash (a practice that is illegal under City statutes).

The Department of Public Works and the ESENA plan to go 50/50 in purchasing more compactors for the neighborhood, targeting Berkeley, Clarendon and Dartmouth streets The ESENA will raise the funds for four BigBellies and ask the City to match with four more. The ESENA recently voted to fund two of the BigBellies out of its own reserves and is asking local businesses and residents to match the amount, for a total of four BigBellies funded by private sources (BigBellies currently cost $3200 each).

Donations should be made payable to The Ellis South End Neighborhood Association and sent to P.O. Box 961, Boston, MA 02117. Please write 'Big Belly Compactors' in the memo.

The City will provide ongoing collection and service for the machines.

2. Raise funds for hiring independent contractors to pick up litter on the streets.

In partnership with the Union Park Neighborhood Association, we have had success hiring an individual to clean a section of Tremont Street.

Paul Duffy, a Tremont Street resident, will work to create a sustained fund for paying for this cleaning effort and potentially expanding the litter removal program to other areas of the neighborhood. He will ask condo associations and local businesses to support the fund since both parties would have an interest in making the sidewalks and streets outside their locations more attractive and litter-free. Individual residents will be encouraged to chip in as well.

3. Sponsor the Spring Clean Up effort of the Ellis Neighborhood on April 25th.

As in previous years, the Ellis will take the lead in raising awareness about the event in the neighborhood, plan the logistics with the City, and oversee the distribution of rakes, brooms, and trash bags on the 25th. All residents are encouraged to participate that day to clean up the debris from the winter.

4. Build awareness among residents and businesses of the efforts to improve street cleanliness and ask for their support.

We plan to contact local news outlets to let them know of our plans for purchasing more BigBelly Trash Compactors and hiring private cleanup personnel.

We will ask all interested parties both to keep the area around their residence or business as clean as possible and to support financially our efforts to add trash compactors and cleaning personnel to the neighborhood.

On a related note, we will ask the Department of Public Works to continue do everything possible to ensure the effectiveness of its regular street sweeping efforts, including moving cars that block access to the curb on posted days of street cleaning.

For more information, contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it