Others

I had planned to attend at least 5 of the listed ICC, ideally in the 5 different boroughs. This involved some logistical effort, and although I did arrive at a suitable plan I ultimately failed in my goal. One of the major stumbling blocks I ran into was that many of the cleanups were organized by and for school groups. This includes the following cleanups that I had inquired about attending:

Broad Channel Park (Queens) 9/28
North Channel Bridge (Queens) 9/30
Whitestone: Francis Lewis Park (Queens) 10/3
Knapp Street (Brookyln) 10/5

The basic response to all inquiries was simply that the cleanup was for a classroom, not the general public. While at least one teacher acknowledged that they were going to a public beach and I was free to clean simultaneously, one group leader was a bit more blunt, The school is only allowing authorized chaperons to attend, sorry. I do understand liability issues exist when bringing schoolchildren into a public arena, and schools do not want some random guy lurking around for a classroom event, and I do not want to be that guy either, but this was all a bit disheartening. When listed on the NYC ICC site, it was not specified which, if any, of the cleanups were organized by teachers and thus only open to their students. It just seemed like false advertising. Moreover, while I am not opposed to including children in such efforts, why not focus similar efforts to involve adults? After all they are the ones actually responsible for buying and littering much of the mess to begin with.

Classroom document from Plumb Beach (Brooklyn) cleanup



Through my entire experience the theme of responsibility was most prominent. Who is responsible for so much pollution? Is it the companies that create it, or the people that use it? Is litter a result of the irresponsible? Who is responsible for cleaning it all? What is the responsibility of organizers to their events? Are annual cleanup events promoting responsibility? What is responsible about picking up the garbage of others? Is responsibility inherit, or is responsibility a response?

Index
Intro <1
South Brother Island <2
Great Kills Beach <3
Aviation Road <4
Lemon Creek Park <5
Others <6


Sherman Creek 10/17

The last cleanup I attempted to attend was Sherman Creek, located in Manhattan around 207th street and the Harlem River. I called the number listed and left a voicemail two days prior to the scheduled date of October 17th. I did not hear back but decided to head there anyways. As almost expected, no one was there when I arrived. I hopped over the fence to the area near the shore (what I assumed was the planned area to clean) and began collecting some trash. Virtually all of the trash here (a pretty tiny amount overall) was from the land, such as takeout containers, clothing items, even a scooter that looked like it had been disposed of. I cleaned some and stopped short of an area where someone had set up a tent as a presumed living quarters. The tenant was there and I figured might not be too interested in someone picking up trash near his camping spot. I went to throw my modest gatherings in a nearby trash can and discovered a voicemail from the organizer I had called the previous days. The cleanup was actually scheduled for the following weekend and he was not sure why the site listed it as today. Oh well, maybe next year.






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