Friday, October 3, 2003

South Fulton group cleaning up the 'Hooch next week

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
Special to The Citizen

When was the last time you threw a paper wrapper out of a car window or tossed a Styrofoam cup into a lake?

Officials at Keep South Fulton Beautiful hope the answer is "Never!" The organization strives to educate and inspire people in their community to think twice about such actions.

Next Thursday, Keep South Fulton Beautiful is helping sponsor "Rivers Alive," a trip down the Chattahoochee River that aims to give attendees a fresh look at their surrounding. Environmental educators will be on hand to travel with the groups down the river to point out ecological concerns and solutions and to answer questions about the river itself.

The boats will leave from the boat ramp at the McDonough/Atkinson Georgia Power Plant starting at 8 a.m. A fish fry will be held down river at the end of the trip.

At one time the discarded refuse and general lack of care for the landscape was enough to deter prospective business clients from choosing South Fulton as a place to settle down. This was back in the mid-1980s when the head of the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, George Barry, saw the negative reaction of a prospective client he was attempting to show some land to as a wake-up call to the area.

He contacted his state representative at the time, Helen Sellman. She did some research and along with her husband Ray, Fairburn Mayor Betty Hannah, and a planner from Fulton County, helped get Keep South Fulton Beautiful certified, said Judy Noles, who runs the organization out of an office at the Georgia Military College in Union City.

"We're not a trash pickup crew, although we promote that," she said. "Sometimes you will see us picking up an adopt-a-road area and working with a group. Our heart here in South Fulton is education and making the public more aware of what is happening, creating self-responsibility and attitude change. We are a community that really does care. So we want to make people more aware of what they do and the aesthetics of the community, how much it does have to do with community pride."

Noles went on to describe the "broken window theory" put forth by George Kelling in his book of the same name and used so successfully in revitalizing New York City. "Anything that causes disorder and decline can be a broken window such as yards that aren't kept and boarded up buildings. If a building is boarded up, we like to encourage murals to be painted on the boards."

Noles also pointed out that by making small improvements in neglected areas of town that big improvements follow reversing what the broken window theory begins.

"We've been told that a lot of developers are now looking when they go into communities if they do have murals on boarded up buildings and such. That shows them that the people in the community care and it might be a good place to consider developing."

Recently some grade school children in South Fulton came up with a slogan that gently puts the organization's message out, "About to litter? Reconsider."

It's a simple and direct message that you will see popping up in the community. If you have more questions or would like to get involved in one of the adopt-a-highway programs, you can call 770-306-3252 during the week or visit www.KSFB.info.