Residents in the Sutton Park area of Windsor were joined by town
leaders over the weekend in a neighborhood cleanup that was aimed
at more than just filling up garbage cans.
Last Saturday neighbors gathered in front of their homes with
gloves on and garbage bags in hand for their first annual Sutton
Park neighborhood cleanup.
“We want a better neighborhood,” said local resident Gerardo
Duran. “This is important because it shows that we care about the
neighborhood.” Duran, who has been living in Windsor for a little
more than a year says that the Sutton Park Neighborhood and other
surrounding areas sometimes get negatively labeled because of their
uncleanliness.
“Some people call us a bad part of Windsor,” he said.
According to Duran’s neighbor Vera Guillory , this is partly due
to a lack of representation in town leadership. “We need a
bilingual person from the neighborhood to go to the town council
meetings and speak as a good representative of the neighborhood,”
said Guillory.
The streets that were focused on in the neighborhood cleanup
included Polaris, Orion, Starr View, Gemini, and Binggeli
drives.
Trash cans, bins, and truck services were provided by North Bay
Disposal and a community resources officer was provided by the
Windsor Police Department. Other items such as gloves and water
bottles were donated by Home Depot and Safeway.
Michael Viloria, a Neighborhood Outreach coordinator with St.
Joseph’s Health Systems has been helping residents from the Sutton
Park Neighborhood get more involved in community activities.
Viloria helped facilitate the cleanup along with the Sutton Park
Neighborhoods group and the Windsor Town Manager’s office. “I’m
here just to encourage the local residents to participate more in
their community,” said Viloria,
Windsor Mayor Sam Salmon and Town Councilmembers Debora Fudge
and Lynn Morehouse were present, helping local residents take out
the garbage.
“Everyone benefits from neighborhood activities like this,” said
Mayor Salmon. “The community can look to this neighborhood as an
example to follow.”
According Fudge, their is a hospitality in the Sutton Park
neighborhood that is exemplary. “No other neighborhood is as
familiar with Town Council members as this neighborhood is,” said
Fudge. “I’ve been invited over for dinner to a couple of the homes
in this neighborhood before.”
According to Viloria, the cleanup also provides new ways for
neighbors to interact with one another. “It’s an opportunity for
them to participate in a process that allows trust to develop,
trust in one another and in law enforcement and other community
leadership.”
Duran agrees. “We can get to know our neighbors a little bit
better,” he said.
The neighborhood group is planning a follow up neighborhood
barbecue next week to evaluate how well the cleanup process went
and so they can plan for similar events in the future.
PHOTO BY PAUL HILKER
