2 June 2005
Milwaukee's Mayor,
Volunteers to Help Remove Trash, Graffiti from Railroad Property
Milwaukee Wisconsin -
Scores of volunteers led by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will work with Canadian Pacific Railway
employees on Friday, 3 Jun 2005, to help remove trash and graffiti at two locations
along CPR tracks in the city.
The goal of the cleanup campaign is long-term enforcement of anti-graffiti
and dumping laws, said Marty Collins, commissioner for the city's Department of Neighborhood Services.
"We're trying to get police involved, to take action, to monitor and do some surveillance so
they can catch the people doing this. This is a great opportunity to combine resources to fight a
common problem," Collins said.
About 80 volunteers from Deloitte & Touche, an accounting and financial advisory firm, contacted
the city about helping with a spring cleanup campaign and that's how they heard about the railroad
project. Volunteers will be assigned to work on the railroad right-of-way project and
other projects in the city on Friday.
"Yes, we have hundreds of professionals who will be out painting and picking up trash,"
said Koree Khongphand-Buckman, Deloitte's senior marketing coordinator in Milwaukee. The
effort is part of a nationwide day of volunteer service by Deloitte employees.
At least a dozen paid CPR employees will participate by operating front-end loaders and
trucks to haul away the debris collected by the volunteers.
Mayor Barrett will kick off the cleanup with a news conference at 9 a.m. Friday at a northside
location behind Master Lock at 32nd and Wright Street. Then, he will help volunteers paint over
graffiti on a city-owned bridge above CPR tracks.
The cleanup will occur at two locations:
A two-mile stretch of CPR tracks from North Avenue to Highland Boulevard where CPR tracks
cross the Union Pacific Railroad under the Interstate 94 overpass on the southside, from Third and
Oklahoma Avenue to 16th and Cleveland Avenue. Furniture, tires, clothing, household goods, shopping
carts and appliances are among the debris commonly found on railroad right-of-ways. Such
items can pose a hazard to safe train operations and keeping up with the trash removal is costly and
time-consuming for railroads.
"That's a constant headache for us, picking up that stuff," CPR structures foreman Jorge
Rueda said.
Rueda welcomes the opportunity to work with the community to go after graffiti on
city-owned bridges.
"I thought it was a great idea. I am pleased by the amount of people coming to help us out. It's
a community effort, and the mayor is getting involved. Police will be monitoring the area, watching
to catch future violators," he said.
Rueda keeps a running list of CPR structures and property with graffiti and once every couple of
months makes the rounds with a roller and gallons of gray paint to obliterate what vandals have done.
He and track maintenance supervisor Tim Dietrich will organize CPR employees to work with the
volunteers. Dietrich supervises crews that have to deal with the debris.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that Dietrich collected a Dumpster load of furniture from along the
tracks in north Milwaukee. He tries to pick up the trash once a month.
"Back in 2002 when I came here, we cleaned up along tracks stretching three city blocks in
north Milwaukee and paid a contractor $6,000 to come in here," Dietrich said.
He hopes Friday's effort will help instill some pride in the neighborhood.
"They will see we're trying to beautify the area," Dietrich said. "Maybe people will
think twice before they dump trash on the tracks."
Investigator Steve Rohde and Special Agent John Lysaght of the CPR Police Service will work with
city police to help the volunteers.
Milwaukee police struggle to catch people who dump trash on the tracks because it's a
hit-and-run crime, Rohde said. "It happens in the middle of the night, people
throw the stuff out of their house and move. But police have had good success arresting graffiti
taggers up there."
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