PORTLAND, Ore. — After the winter storm, trash has built up on the streets of downtown Portland — but some are stepping in to help clean the mess.
Margo Howell — who volunteers with Adopt One Block, a nonprofit organization that goes out and picks up trash — described the conditions in downtown streets this past week as “disgusting."
“Because of the bad weather, we have more people — instead of sitting in a park, they are wandering around, they get food, eat what they want, and then, throw the rest on the ground," said Howell.
The icy conditions were so bad last week that the SOLVE nonprofit wasn’t able to host one of its largest volunteers' days of the year.
“We haven’t been out; we had to skip a week's worth of events because we weren’t safely able to get out,” said Kris Carico, CEO of SOLVE. "In fact, we had to cancel our big Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, which we expected 400 people to come out in one day."
Throw in a couple of days of much warmer weather, and people like Margo Howell are able to fill bags of trash once again.
“It’s terrible, and if you think this part is bad, you should see the back of the building — it’s just awful,” Howell said.
Along with volunteers, another group that’s been working nonstop has been Downtown Portland Clean and Safe.
“For our cleaning team, we can’t push barrels if the snow and ice is on the ground,” said Steve Wytcherley, the director of operations with Downtown Portland Clean and Safe. "It’s unsafe for people; it’s unsafe for our team, but we do prioritize cleaning some pathways."
Wytcherley said he’s thankful they were able to keep up this past week as best they could during this latest round of ice and snow.