Clean sweep

Keep El Dorado Beautiful urging citizens to help clean in preparation for MAD

By Tia Lyons

Staff Writer

EL DORADO — Keep El Dorado Beautiful is calling on each household in the city to “sweep off your front porch” to help spruce up El Dorado in preparation of the grand opening of the Murphy Arts District this fall.

The event has been part of several public conversations since the musical lineup was announced on June 8, with local individuals and groups discussing ways to help prepare for the opening of MAD on the south end of Downtown El Dorado.

The grand opening, which is set for Sept. 27 — Oct. 1, is the first phase of an $80 – $100 million project to develop a new arts and entertainment district to meet the “Festival City” brand idea.

For its part, Keep El Dorado Beautiful is encouraging local residents to clean up the frontages of their houses, including the front yard and curb.

Members of the group said Monday that they will also troll the city’s gateways and high-visibility areas to see how they can be improved.

Keep El Dorado Beautiful member Dan Roblee said that while he favors asking residents across city to work in their neighborhoods, he said KEB should also be more strategic in its approach by focusing on the city’s gateways.

“We can go out and identify these areas so we can see what needs to be done and know how much resources we will need,” KEB member Dan Roblee said.

Janis Van Hook, president of KEB, said the group will then forward the information to Mayor Frank Hash’s office so city crews can address the situation.

KEB member Jeri Ratcliff said the group should also coordinate the effort with the city so the city’s trash and limb trucks can be mindful of household and yard waste that may be placed curbside for pick up.

KEB members noted that the trash trucks often run behind schedule, leaving unsightly piles of trash and limbs curbside for several weeks — and even months, according to some residents — at a time.

City officials have previously said many of the delays are due to mechanical problems with the trucks.

“It discourages people from cleaning up and placing stuff on the curb. If it sits there too long, people stop and go through it, and it gets strewn everywhere,” Van Hook said.

Ratcliff suggested that the group emphasize to the city that such refuse should be collected prior to the opening night of the Murphy Arts District on Sept. 27.

KEB member Valarie Smith asked if the group would still participate in the Great Arkansas Cleanup, the annual community improvement campaign that occurs each fall.

Keep El Dorado Beautiful typically participates by hosting a citywide cleanup during that time.

This year, the campaign is set for Sept. 9 — Oct. 31, and Van Hook said Great Arkansas Cleanup activities will be separate from asking residents to clean up their front yards for the opening of the arts and entertainment district.

“That’s not an organized thing. We’re just being a watchdog here,” Van Hook said.

Added Ratcliff, “The September cleanup is more of a hospitality-type awareness to welcome visitors to town.”

Group members said they are also awaiting a status report from KEB member and city Alderman Dianne Hammond on an effort to ask the city to provide no littering signs to post in problem areas around El Dorado.

Hammond was unable to attend the meeting on Monday.

Following a cleanup that was held in Ward Three in April, KEB members lamented how quickly recently-cleaned areas filled up with litter.

One area the group homed in on lies in the curve behind Washington Middle School.

“We cleaned up there, and we go to the cookout (which followed the cleanup at Mattocks Park), and then I go back to Clean Harbors to drop stuff off, and there’s already stuff back down there,” Roblee said.

Roblee is general manager of Clean Harbors, who partnered with Ward Three aldermen Kensel Spivey and Willie McGhee to organize the cleanup.

Roblee also noted that no littering signs are already posted in the area behind the middle school.

“What can we do? Can we put a dumpster or trash receptacle out there?” Ratcliff asked, adding, “They need to start issuing tickets.”

Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.

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