Dansville residents dig in for cleanup

Some garbage crews in unincorporated Pinellas County will not pick up larger items like furniture.

By ERIC STIRGUS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

LARGO -- Junk. Trash.

That's what Willie J. Thomas Sr. sees when he looks at some of the homes in his Dansville neighborhood.

The front lawns are cluttered with rusty cars that no longer run, old appliances that do not work or worn mattresses that no one could sleep on comfortably.

It bothers Thomas and many of the estimated 3,000 residents who live in Greater Ridgecrest, which includes Dansville.

"It looks neglected," said Mary Dixon, a resident and business owner.

Today, Thomas and Dixon will join volunteers and county workers in a unique, daylong neighborhood cleanup to help remove the items that make some parts of the neighborhood an unattractive place to live.

"We feel it is going to be a way to clean up the neighborhood," said Dixon, who is chairwoman of the effort.

The county has placed eight trash bins at four sites in the neighborhood. Volunteers and Waste Management workers will help residents move unwanted items to the bins. From there, the items will go to the county's solid waste site in Pinellas Park.

"That's the only way you can get this place cleaned up," said Thomas, secretary of the Dansville Neighborhood Development Corp., a neighborhood group that is working with the county on a major streets and drainage improvement project.

It is not that some residents do not want to get rid of that old washing machine, Dixon said. They can't, she said.

Greater Ridgecrest is an unincorporated area of Pinellas County, and county government plays almost no role in trash pickup. Most homeowners make arrangements with trash companies to haul their garbage, but some will not take discarded furniture. Some elderly residents do not have the means to remove large unwanted items.

"We realize getting rid of big, bulky items is difficult in the unincorporated areas," said county Community Development specialist Cheryl Reed, whose department helped organize the cleanup effort.

Last month, the county formed a Solid Waste Task Force to look into ways to clean up the process in which trash is picked up, recycled and how to possibly regulate haulers who operate in unincorporated Pinellas.

The task force is expected to spend six months before coming up with any recommendations.

On March 25, the county assisted in a similar cleanup effort in High Point, a neighborhood east of Largo.

Thirty tons of trash was removed that day.

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