Curb Appeal Leads to a Safer Community
W
e’re blessed with such a beautiful community, filled with fantastic parks and playgrounds, scenic trails and multi-use pathways. Our neighborhoods are second to none, where residents take great pride in their homes and property, doing their best to keep up the curb appeal. That’s the same level of care we channel when maintaining the city’s public spaces. Not only do we consistently tend to the attractive “curb appeal” of the city, but extra effort is made to contribute to an overall healthy earth, starting in our own community. This includes a dedicated associate maintaining our Town Center’s charm to hanging streetlight baskets overflowing with flowers. Keeping our community clean and tidy not only improves the value of neighborhoods, it affects a visitor’s perception of our hometown. Efforts are made on a regular basis to bring new life to areas of the city that have become neglected or property that has been mismanaged. This starts with updating and enforcing city ordinances that promote and support the attractive appearance and safety of our community’s housing stock. However, more important than improving looks of our community with preened lawns, mended fences or uncluttered yards is the fact that maintaining a neat, cared-for appearance in our neighborhoods is an important deterrent to crime. Studies support the notion that not only is a lack of maintenance in neighborhoods associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress for residents, it also attracts illicit activities and crime. Keeping our community safe is top priority and we’ll tackle that responsibility from all angles – one of the simplest angles being the upkeep of our surroundings. The Keep Grove City Beautiful Committee is celebrating 30 years of promoting these efforts, including positive and sustainable environmental practices through community involvement, recycling and beautification.
Connect with us! 6 July/August 2021
This spring, the committee organized a Cleanup Day throughout Grove City and Jackson Township. Participating in the day-long city cleanup were more than 50 groups and 270 volunteers who collected more than three tons of trash; and those are just the results we’re aware of. Folks throughout the city volunteered to clear months of rubbish hidden below the snow, trapped in creek beds or blown from trash cans. Photos were shared on social media throughout the day, of families smiling as they filled trash bags – rightfully proud of their efforts. Grove City Boy Scouts organize creek cleanups each year as well, doing their part to keep our community clean and the land healthy. It’s a great feeling, to polish the community we care so much about. These organizations are not alone in the effort. Many families and organizations have “adopted” streets and parks and regularly tend to them. And there’s at least one resident who enjoys plogging around town. That’s O.K. … I didn’t know what that was at first either. It’s a combination of jogging while picking up litter. The word is a merging of the Swedish verbs plocka upp (pick up) and jogga (jog). Without missing a single stride, Grove City resident John Smith uses a trash grabber to gather the trash along his running route and stuff it in a bag for proper disposal. It’s that level of personal pride that speaks volumes to why Grove City stands out as a beautiful and safe community in which to live and visit.
Mayor Richard L. “Ike” Stage
Subscribe to our eNewsletter — From the Grove — at GroveCityOhio.gov.
We’re Social
@GroveCityOhio www.DiscoverGroveCity.com
