City Sweep: Volunteers pick-up liter to clean-up Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids-It's spring cleaning for your neighborhood on a very chilly Fall day.  Make a Difference Day had dozens of volunteers hitting the streets to pick-up litter and other debris.  The City of Cedar Rapids Solid Waste & Recycling Division and volunteers participated in the fall City Sweep, a neighborhood based litter clean-up on Saturday.  Four different neighborhoods are participating this year. For some neighborhoods it just needed to be done.  For others, it's still in efforts to pick-up after the 2008 floods. 

"Rotten food and dirty diapers,” said volunteer Megan Zirtzman.

It's just two of the items volunteers found on the streets of Cedar Rapids. 

"You don't know how long things have been there,” said Zirtzman. 

This year's city sweep is all about cleaning up after litter bugs and debris from the flood. 

"I think part of it is the flood and because people don't care,” said volunteer Cassie Sweeney. 

"It's a lot dirtier now because of the flood and it should be a lot cleaner after we do this,” said volunteer Rebecca Jenkins. 

It's a health concern.  It's an eye sore.  It's a dent in the home values. 

"We've lost a lot of value in our neighborhood.  These houses aren't worth what they were pre-flood,” said Taylor Area Resident Fred Dennis. 

Dozens of volunteers and city workers got down and dirty. 

"I expected four or five bags,” said Cedar Rapids Utility Department's Megan Murphy. 

But the Taylor Area crew piled up 30 bags of litter. 

"It'd be great if we didn't have to do this.  Some people would police that area better and if people chose not to litter,” said Murphy. 

But because some people do and the flood happened, it's now a community effort to patch-up Cedar Rapids. 

"If someone else doesn't do it no one would,” said Sweeney. 

Saturday's clean-up efforts were a partnership amongst neighborhood associations, volunteers, and the city's Solid Waste & Recycling Division.  City leaders say they hope to do it again in the spring after the snow melts.