Regional Solid Waste crews cleaned up Pittsburg Stairs

Plenty of volunteers responded to South Hill resident Virginia Kanikeberg’s appeal for help to clean up the Pittsburg Trail after a story about the trail ran in last Thursday’s The Voice.

But the city of Spokane was faster than the volunteers; by Friday the trail was cleaned up, trash was removed and the graffiti was scrubbed off.

“The graffiti is gone and the area looks so nice now,” Kanikeberg wrote in an email Friday.

It turns out that cleanup of the trail falls under the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System program for litter control, and those are the crews that responded.

“A portion of the tipping charges for solid waste are used to support a litter control crew which is used to pick up illegal dumping and littering sites on public right-of-way and public land,” wrote Marlene Feist, public affairs officer for the city of Spokane, in an email. “There are some exceptions to this – bridges, parks, and I-90, for example – but then there are specific agencies that can help.”

Feist added that residents should call the city code enforcement office at (509) 625-6083 if they see illegal dumping.

Jerry Numbers, chairman of the East Central Neighborhood Council, said that the council is planning its neighborhood cleanup projects, and the Pittsburg Stairs could become part of that effort.

One remaining question is what to do with the volunteers who responded to the cleanup project. Picking another area to clean up or joining forces to pick up trash along the Ben Burr Trail are among the suggestions.

Suggestions can be posted at spokesman.com/blogs/southperry.