Meet, Greet, and Sweep

By Nick Davis
BACK BAY- On a recent Saturday morning, brooms, rakes and garbage bags are lined up next to a 7-Eleven store on the corner of St. Botolph’s and West Newton Street. About 100 neighbors of the St. Boltoph District gathered for the annual neighborhood clean up sponsored by Mayor Thomas M. Menino's Boston Shines program.

Lorraine Steele, a resident of St. Botolph for four years and a member volunteer for the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association, said they contact the mayor’s office every year about the clean up in St. Boltoph. "The mayor office’s donates all the equipment and street cleaners. We do the labor,” Steele said.


Boston Shines is a citywide cleanup effort created by Menino in 2003. The measure was aimed at getting residents and local businesses more involved in their communities.

Steele said they planned to clean litter and debris left from winter sands. “It’s such a beautiful area, and we like to keep it that way,” she said.

Chris Coffin, former vice president of the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association, said many of the neighbors who support the cleanup look at this event as an opportunity to meet their neighbors. “With a great diversity of people, from multimillionaires to college students in proximity, this is a really special neighborhood,” said Coffin, as he sweeps sand and debris on to the street.


Claire Dargan, a resident of St. Botolph for the last six years and a member of the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association, said the association’s main goal this year was to increase recycling. “There are these solar-powered trash bins called Big Bellies that we are working to get in our neighborhood right now,” Dargan said.

Dargan said these trash cans will cut the number of public trash pickups a day, because the solar-powered trash cans compress the trash, reducing the number of trips a day from five to two.


Dargan also said the association is looking at a public recycling machine that can be rolled down the block. “Not only will this increase recycling in the neighborhood, but it also will help the city of Boston get money after the recyclables are turned into cash,” Dargan said.

Menino said he plans to make Boston Shines a year-round program.

“Boston Shines is a great example of a public/private partnership that really works,” Menino said. “The more involvement we have from the business community and other public sector partners, the more we can really make Boston shine.”

Businesses can get involved by cleaning the front of their property or by encouraging their workers to volunteer during the Boston Shines. Businesses can also sponsor these events with a financial donation.