Three thousand shrubs, 300 trees planted in the Beachway – tons of trash removed – BurlingtonGreen pulls it off – again.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  April 21, 2013.  The weather didn’t help.  It was downright chilly. For those working along the Beachway – it was particularly cold.  Those who show up year after year and those who make BurlingtonGreen what it is – the weather wasn’t a detriment.  The politicians took to the podium and told those who came down to city hall for the BBQ how well they had done and how worthwhile their work is – they already know that – that’s why BurlingtonGreen is the great organization it is.

Environment Minister Jim Bradley, who hopefully heard about the Enbridge Pipeline concern from Amy Schnurr who has her back to the camera as she hits up the Minister for a grant next year while Burlington Green president Ken Woodruff  and Regional Chair Gary Carr look on.

Environmental Minister Jim Bradley spoke about the environment – spoke longer than usual and made a lot of sense; clearly an

Three hundred of these trees were planted on a cold Saturday morning with an additional 3000 shrubs planted as well in the Beachway at the edge of the lake.

Environmental Minister that gets it – and then walks his talk. It was the effort of his office that got BurlingtonGreen the grant that allowed the planting of 3000 plants and 300 small trees – a little more than seedlings but they will grow and those endangered sands along the edge of the lake may have a chance of seeing some stability.

Bradley did what few politicians do – he walked about on his own, chatted with people and asked them questions.

As people were walking about Amy Schnurr, Executive Director of BurlingtonGreen made a point of button holing the Minister and chatting him up for a grant for next year’s event

Registration were record level – again.  The numbers as to how much trash was picked up aren’t tallied yet but it will be an impressive number.

BurlingtonGreen was named the Mayor’s Community Service Award winner and recognized at Burlington’s Chamber of Commerce Gala  on April 11^th.

Burlington talks about being bicycle friendly – just doesn’t act very friendly and really doesn’t believe the roads are meant to be “shared by cars and bicycles.  At least not Lakeshore Road.

Now if BurlingtonGreen can get the Mayor to move beyond awards and buy into and then act on some of the BG initiatives we will have made some progress.  As we watch the node and the beacon on the pier get put in place BG people smart over the missing wind turbine.

The Minister of the Environment certainly walks his talk – may he can teach our Mayor how you do that.

The CleanUpGreenUp this year included basically every school in the city – BG has made huge progress at that level.

What’s next?  Earth day – takes place Monday

Alton Village, a newer part of Burlington that has an attitude that is chippy – they refer to themselves as the “new” Burlington with the rest of us living in the old Burlington.  They have a newsletter that gets mailed out; they have a Facebook page used to exchange information where they reported that of the six locations they had defined for CleanUp there were “Some areas we did not get too, so if you are out and about grab a bag and pick up any garbage you see! By helping keep the community clean, will help keep our neighbourhood a safe and inviting place to live and visit!”

It was chilly – here Ivy Simms stands in line for burger. Standing to her right is Justin Jones, the Project Coordinator with BurlingtonGreen who oversaw the Green Up at Beachway Park. There were dozens of  others who enjoyed the food provided each year by Turtle Jacks. Ivy Simms does publicity for BurlingtonGreen.

Later in the week we will learn just how much trash was picked up.

Do you think we could figure out how to pick a CleanUpGreenUp day that was a little warmer – it was chilly out there.