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Athens Beautification Day Set For April 28
By: Kelsey Pinkard
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During Monday night’s Athens City Council meeting, members reacted optimistically to one project in particular: Athens Beautification Day.
The annual Athens Beautification Day will be held on a different day this year, but it promises to be bigger, better, and cleaner than ever before.
“It’s one day a year. I think some residents would think it should be everyday of the year but the fact is, it’s a chance for everybody to get together and just by the shear numbers it accomplishes a lot,” Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said.
On April 28, student organizations and community volunteers will combine forces to make the Athens area litter-free.
After seven successful years of organizing the event, Ohio University's Student Senate will lead the Beautification Day again this year.
Project director Thomas Rabbi, a graduate student and member of the OU Student Senate, hopes for more involvement this year.
“Clean-ups, landscaping, mulching. We’re expanding, this event’s getting bigger, and we’re expanding throughout the entire city of Athens,” Rabbi said.
Raising more money for the cause is part of the plan to make this year’s Beautification Day a bigger success.
“We have supported financially in the past and feel it’s a very worthwhile venture so I’m sure we will be moving forward to support it this year,” said Chris Knisely , City Council At-Large Representative and Finance and Personnel Chair.
In 2011, City Council donated $1,000 to the Athens Beautification Day fund.
The Beautification Day committee plans to clean more venues this year, including the Dairy Barn, The Ridges, Stroud’s Run, the OU Bike Path, Passion Works, Athens Historical Society, local churches and Hillel, and the Wildlife Center.