San Diego is launching a new effort to keep its neighborhoods clean with a series of community cleanup events called "Second Saturdays." The initiative starts on July 13, with volunteers gathering downtown at 8 a.m. to tackle street litter. According to the San Diego government website, this collective action aligns with San Diego’s spirit of togetherness and its ongoing commitment to protecting local natural resources.
Residents interested in participating can register at cleansd.org, with organizers hoping to attract up to 200 volunteers for the inaugural event. Mayor Todd Gloria and City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn are expected to join the effort, which will commence in the Civic Concourse outside City Hall. Street Stewards, a grassroots environmental entity, and various partner organizations are orchestrating the event. "This community collaboration epitomizes what San Diego is all about: working together to make our city a better place for all of us," Mayor Gloria stated, as per the San Diego government website.
The Street Stewards initiative started from humble beginnings in 2018 when a small group in Ocean Beach decided to take care of their locale by promoting trash collection. The simple idea quickly expanded throughout numerous San Diego neighborhoods, and now, with a new website due to be launched this summer, it hopes to inspire wider community participation across the county. "I’m excited about how quickly the concept grows in each and every neighborhood we introduce it to," said Co-Director of Street Stewards, Aaron Null, per the San Diego government website, "People genuinely ‘get it,’ sign on, and then we are off to the races seeing early adopters catch on quickly, then the masses get ahold of the idea and run with it."
The collaboration extends beyond litter collection. Keith Jones, a prominent figure in ACE Parking and involved in the San Diegans Together Tackling Homelessness initiative, noted the direct connection between the litter problem and homelessness. "The root cause of trash in the downtown area is homelessness," Jones explained, as cited by the San Diego government website.
