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| Group Cleans Up Galesburg Neighborhood |
A group of Galesburg residents got together Saturday to clean up what one resident says is a vastly different neighborhood than it was a year ago.
Residents from inside and out of the area around Pearl and East South Streets cleaned up and planted trees in the area, an activity put on by the Neighborhood Watch area there that's no more than a year old.
Steve Peck is the Neighborhood Watch block captain in that area, starting the group there after talking to some other local block captains, and tells WGIL the cleanup and tree-planting is just the most obvious example of how successful his efforts have been. "The drug activity has mellowed down, and neighbors in the community are getting back together," Peck said. "People are sitting on their front porch, which they never used to. So, there's more neighbors talking and having cookouts, and getting together more often than before, because everybody was scared."
The neighbors got a lot of extra help from other block captains, a Galesburg alderman, and Galesburg Police. Police Chief David Christensen was hauling trees to spots where they'd be planted, and tells WGIL it's important for his officers to be able to help in projects like that, but it's also more than that. "It's the patrol officer than can get out and visit with the Neighborhood Watch block captain, or get to know the Neighborhood Watch folks in his or her zone," Christensen said. "We do encourage our officers to get involved with the Neighborhood Watch groups as much as they can. They're the eyes and ears for us, so they really help us out a lot."
Several hundred dollars worth of trees were planted in the area of Pearl and South Streets, with money provided by the City of Galesburg and its newly-established Neighborhood Challenge Grant program.
Also helping in the cleanup were a group of Knox College students who are being credited with coming up with the idea for the tree-planting.
(Residents plant a tree on South Pearl Street, one of over a dozen trees planted on Pearl and South Streets.)
(Residents pick up trash on either side of East South Street near Pearl Street Saturday.)
(WGIL News Story and Photos by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 05 30 09 by Newsroom |
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