Hundreds of people turned out early Saturday to spruce up a stretch of University Avenue in City Heights, the second year a local business improvement group has hosted a volunteer cleanup effort.
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They picked up more than 1,000 pounds of trash, repainted a half-dozen storefronts and touched up more than a dozen streetside utility boxes in and around the cultural heart of City Heights.
“I just want to give back to the community,” said Dennis Peterson, who arrived at the second annual Beautify the Block event sponsored by City Heights Community Development, the nonprofit business improvement district working to improve the inner-city neighborhood.
“That’s what I think in my heart,” said Peterson, who works at San Diego Gas & Electric. One of the large employers who asked their workforce to volunteer for the event.
“Why do I do it? I could have stayed in bed but this is a good thing to do,” he said.
The second annual beautification event kicked off with speeches from local elected officials and segued into an information and training session. Workers were provided all of the materials they needed to perform their tasks.
The work plan focused on a half-mile section of University Avenue east and west of the City Heights Urban Village, where a San Diego branch library, park and other amenities have all sprouted up in a major redevelopment effort.
Volunteers were assigned a litany of tasks, including painting dated and aging sidewalk utility boxes, removing graffiti affecting the neighborhood, picking up trash strewn across the thoroughfare and repainting some of the small businesses along University Avenue.
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Photos: Beautify the Block
“Our goal is to bring further investment into the community,” said Alexis Villanueva, the president and chief executive of the business improvement district. “This is one of these events where we can bring sponsors, businesses, residents and government stakeholders together to draw time and dollars into the community.
Villanueva said the Saturday effort attracted more people than last year — and she expects it to continue growing in years to come.
One of the volunteers was Hassan Elhadari of PCL Construction, another large San Diego employer that encouraged its workers to contribute some of their weekend time.
“My main line of work is construction, and you don’t get a lot of time outside of the office,” the PCL Construction project engineer said. “It’s important to do things like this to help the community.”
Elhadari, who traveled from his home in Mira Mesa to join the effort, said he had no idea what the organizers would ask of him.
“Wherever they put me I’m totally fine,” he said just before the orientation and training session that opened the cleanup effort. “I’m just here to help out.”
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