SIDE STREETS: This army is looking for a few good men . . . trash men

Fort Carson isn’t the only all-volunteer Army in Colorado Springs anymore.

Steve Immel is organizing an all-volunteer trash can army. It’s mission: to replace every missing trash can from city parks.

Recently, the city removed 396 trash cans from 128 neighborhood parks. The Parks Department took them away to save $40,000 in liners, roll-off service costs, landfill fees and worker time.

Parks is saving every dollar it can during the ongoing city budget crisis. The cans disappeared amid layoffs, the planned closing of community centers and swimming pools, the scaling back of park watering and other  reductions in service.

Sure, some folks have howled about the missing cans. The city is punishing voters, they wail, for not passing a tax increase.

But Immel isn’t sitting around whining.

“Our goal is to get all the trash cans back,” he said.

There’s nothing political about Immel’s movement. He just loves his northside neighborhood park, Judge Lunt Park, and he doesn’t want it to get trashy.

So he contacted the parks department and adopted the trash cans in his park. Now he and his 7-year-old twin daughters patrol it for trash every day.

“They come home from school, grab a grocery bag and run out to the park to look for trash,” he said. “They are excited about this. They want to do their part, as well.”

In addition, he built a Web site, the Proud of Our Parks Initiative, loaded a spreadsheet of the affected parks and started encouraging others to follow his lead.

“I love Colorado Springs and I don’t want to see trash in the parks,” he said. “This is a community-wide issue and it’s something we can solve park-by-park.”

Turns out a lot of people agree with Immel. In just a few weeks, folks have adopted 47 cans in 23 parks.

They are providing the plastic liners and hauling away garbage left by friends and strangers who happen to use their park.

Sure, a lot of people remain angry at the city. But clearly some people are beyond ranting and raving.

“I think people want to help the community,” said Kim King, a parks agency manager. “Maybe they can’t give money, but they can give time. I think it’s great.”

For years, folks have adopted trails and volunteered to maintain them. They adopted flower beds and planted pansies in them each spring. They adopted roadsides and patrolled them for litter.

She said it may sound like an insignificant gesture, but to her agency, it’s huge.

“That’s the thing about small efforts, you put enough of them together and it really makes a difference,” she said. “This is something everyone can do. Donate some time and help make their piece of the community better.”

OK, Gen. Immel. I’m ready to join your army. Where do I sign up?

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Details of the program are on my blog at gazette.com/blogs/sidestreets. Or you can  call the city at 385-6519 for more information.