Southie Trash Talk: Residents brainstorm about litter campaign

Tired of windblown trash vortexes, dog poop and a general sense of ewwww?

Well then, we have just the thing for you!

Here's what happened: in the past 2 weeks (coincidental with the melting snow), Southie's social media circles have been abuzz with ordinary neighbors of all stripes who are fed up with litter.

Over at the SaveKStreet blog, it's been stated frankly: 
"Has anyone else noticed that the streets of our neighborhood are overflowing with trash? Up and down every Southie street are piles of trash."

OK. OK. So these things happen. The question is what to do about it? 

A bunch of Southie neighbors who shared their frustration via Twitter decided to be proactive -- they got together via Planet Southie's "tweet up" (affectionately dubbed #SouthieTrashTalk) and excitedly agreed to help start a resident-led clean up campaign. Here they are this morning, hash-tagging it out:

#WillTwitterSaveSouthie? This AM's #SouthieTrashTalk w/ @kennycooks @Anna__Wh1te @SaveKStreet @planetsouthie @veemdog pic.twitter.com/NCD7dNvYPI
— Planet Southie (@planetsouthie) March 8, 2014

Some of the ideas that have been floating around:

le TOUR de SOUTHIE

Join Planet Southie Bikes for a casual bicycle ride around the neighborhood. Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes, will be our special guest for the ride. Nicole will share with us the City's plans for bicycle lanes that may be in the works for Southie residents, and we will also have the opportunity to share our thoughts about what its like to ride here and where we'd like to see improvements.

Cyclists of all abilities are encouraged to attend. Please keep in mind that we'll be sharing the road with other vehicles. Helmets & smiles mandatory.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 6:30pm
450 West Broadway - Parking lot

Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/544095912299557/

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Planet Southie Transportation Group Update

Planet Southie member Fred Gordon shared the following update about First Street bus service, shuttles, vans and more:

The Planet Southie Transit Action Team is working on transportation issues in South Boston. We started with the problem of bus transportation in the First Street area, but we’d like to gather together recommendations for transportation changes for the whole of South Boston.

First Street Bus Service: East First Street from Pappas Drive to Summer Street is between two bus routes. One of them—the No. 9—runs down Broadway and is a three block walk.  The other—the No. 7—runs along Summer and is about a half mile walk down E. First or along Pappas Drive. But the No. 7 bus could easily run down E. First. It now runs along Summer Street, and from E.

Don't miss Planet Southie's 10/10/10 Broadway Clean Up

At 10:10 am on 10/10/10, members of Planet Southie, the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, the South Boston Youth Ambassadors and others will meet at Broadway T station and then walk down Broadway to L Street, picking up litter and recycling along the way.

• We will carry copies of the Mayor's Climate Change Pledge for people to sign as well as surveys about public transportation.
  
• Youth Ambassadors will be visiting shops along the way, asking shopkeepers to sign a pledge promising to keep the sidewalks outside of their stores clean.
  
• All are welcome! Sign up at the Event Website

10/10/10 is a global day of action on climate change. Events will be happening simultaneously all over the world. More information is at www.350.org.

How to Get Involved Planning the Event: We would love some help! Please email planetsouthie@gmail.com or call 617-962-1735.

This week's update: Plug In Southie!

Check out this week's Friday update for opportunities to plug into a greener South Boston:

• 10/10/10 global warming event planning meeting
• Boston Local Food Festival
• South Boston Street Festival
• More!

Next Planet Southie Meeting is Monday, September 27 from 6:30-7:30 pm. Location: Tech Networks of Boston, 1 Wadleigh Place in South Boston, right behind the Andrew Square T stop.

Please email us to subscribe to our weekly eNewsletter: Plug In Southie. 

Plug In Southie! Our Friday Update

Check out Planet Southie's Friday Update: a neighborhood guide to plugging into a greener South Boston. The update highlights opportunities to get involved in South Boston-based environmental initiatives.

Please email us to subscribe to our weekly eNewsletter: Plug In Southie. 

First Planet Southie meeting a smash!

Wow! We are pleased as punch that 22 wonderful people showed up at our first Planet Southie meeting on Monday, August 23. Please see the Meeting Notes to learn who is involved how to plug into South Boston environmental projects including:

• Anti-litter campaigns
• Community gardens
• Farmers market
• Global warming event on 10-10-10
• Public transportation
• Recycling
• Environmental justice
• Saving the trees in Andrew Square
• Solar power event

There is also interest in asthma initiatives.

We decided to meet the 4th Monday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Location to be determined (the library is booked).
 
Next meeting is September 27, 2010. See you there!

Stay tuned by following Planet Southie on Twitter and Facebook

Planning first Planet Southie communitiy meeting

Please chime in on the comments if you would like to promote, attend and/or help coordinate our first Planet Southie community meeting!

By the end of August (sooner than later), we will meet at the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library (and visit the Blackthorn afterwards!). We will promote this meeting as soon as a date is jointly decided on.

We have set up some online communication tools (website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and an email account), and our next step is to meet our neighbors and put our heads together. Some ideas for discussion at the meeting (please feel free to suggest others):

• Plans to reach out to others in our community
• Plans to promote the South Boston Farmer's Market (Mondays at 460 West Broadway)
• Plans to research and promote Cooling Centers (places set up by the City of Boston for people with out air conditioning to go in a heat wave, since this is the hottest summer ever). View the map Aaron made.
• Plans to post pictures of Southie gardens to celebrate folks devoted to growing things
• Plan an event for 10-10-10
• Plan to support Southie community gardens*. There is only one listed and it is called Foster's Nook Community Garden at 344 Athens St . It's on our South Boston community gardens Google map
• More (please share your ideas)

*Update: Suport these amazing South Boston Grows initiatives:

1) The George Berlandi garden in the Old Colony Housing Development is under way with 12 raised beds thanks to the help of South Boston Basketball Academy and the Crittendon Women's Union.

2) Visit the South Boston Grows community garden (and pick up some free produce!) Food will be distributed at South Boston Grows (70 Devine Way is the flagship site) on Thursdays at 1:30 pm.

More info at www.southbostongrows.org

South Boston Cooling Centers

We're building a map in Google showing locations of official City of Boston cooling centers for the South Boston area. The City of Boston website has more information to help residents cope with high temperatures. Suggestions on providing more information are always welcome, so feel free to post a comment.


View South Boston Cooling Centers in a larger map

Our first post: the inspiration for Planet Southie

Welcome to Planet Southie!

We are in the midst of reading a book about global warming/climate change by Bill McKibben entitled Eaarth (yes, there are two a's). Soon after we started reading the book, we realized that we need to find other people in Southie who share our worries and hopes for our community. We can do this by connecting as neighbors and don't necessarily need to get into debates or politics about the sources of climate change. Here is a snippet about the book.

Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth...Our hope depends, McKibben argues, on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the type of community (in the neighborhood, but also on the Internet) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale. Change—fundamental change—is our best hope on a planet suddenly and violently out of balance.

After setting up some online communication tools (website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and an email account), our first step is to meet our neighbors and put our heads together. Some ideas:

• Reach out to others in our community
• Have a meeting at the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library (and visit the Blackthorn afterwards!). We will promote this meeting as soon as a date is set  up
• Promote the South Boston Farmer's Market (Mondays at 460 West Broadway)
• Research and promote Cooling Centers (places set up by the City of Boston for people with out air conditioning to go in a heat wave, since this is the hottest summer ever)
• Post pictures of Southie gardens to celebrate those who devote energy to growing things
• Plan an event for 10-10-10
• More (please share your ideas)

We hope to hear from you!

Stefanie and Aaron
West 2nd Street
South Boston, MA