Clean Mill Valley is promoting its Adopt-a-Spot program with banners around the Depot Plaza in October 2018.
“Clean Mill Valley, led by indefatigable Joan Murray and Jill Young, is an organization of exceptional community members that exemplify the very best in our city,” Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters said. “With relentless cheer and a can-do attitude, they tackle an issue that most of us would prefer to ignore but which they undertake with civic spirit and dedication to the betterment of our community in and the environment.”
Longtime Mill Valley resident Maureen Parton, an aide to Supervisor Kate Sears, agreed.
“Litter is not just a nuisance to complain about,” she said. “Litter on our streets and sidewalks are a public health and environmental hazard that, if not cleaned up, it flows into our creeks and waterways, into the food chain and ultimately into our bodies. Clean Mill Valley is a community service, a nonstop volunteer effort and a public health hero.”
In honoring Clean Mill Valley and the efforts of Murray, Young and team of volunteers, the Council shone a light on the organization just as it was launching a promotional campaign for its Adopt-a-Spot program with banners around the Depot Plaza (see photo above). which is as simple as it sounds: pick a neighborhood, location, street corner or storefront that could use a regular cleanup, and adopt it. Email Clean MV to adopt-a-spot.
Volunteers to date have adopted areas such as Old Mill Park, the civici parking lot on Miller Avenue and the bed of poppies at East Blithedale Avenue and Tower Drive, widely known as “the Bermuda Triangle of trash.”
“We are seeing good results, but we need more hands!,” Murray said. “We are encouraging people to pitch in and adopt a section of a street in their neighborhood, an area of a favorite Step, Lane or Path, or an unsightly corner at a bus stop. We hope our combined efforts will help keep our town, its creeks, marshes and bay clean.”
The Adopt-a-Spot program adds to Clean Mill Valley’s efforts, which include the collection of of 3.74 tons of litter to date, 1,634 volunteer hours and more than 150 businesses participating in the merchant program to clean up the area in front of their business regularly, in collaboration with the Mill Valley Chamber.