Keeping Cape clean

I have written several columns in past months about city beautification. By now most readers and people I know have come to realize this is one of my "hot buttons" and also my major pet peeve.

I fail to understand why some residents and business owners allow their property to fall into disrepair, let trash accumulate, weeds grow and, in general, show their disrespect for their neighbors and their community.

I also have long communicated the need for our city to properly maintain all of our right of way along city streets. It has not made sense to me that we should expect our citizens to pay close attention to beautification if we in city government do not do the same on city property.

I am very pleased that our public works department has initiated a new program called Operation Clean Sweep, which began in late October.

This program splits the city into three areas with three teams having some dedicated hours each week with mowers, weed eaters, street sweepers and trash pickup, with the goal of eventually having all of our city rights of way in pristine condition.

I already have had many comments from citizens who have observed this program at work. Some of our major streets already are looking much cleaner and presentable to the driving public. It will, of course, take several months for the staff to cover all our major streets. The plan is to make this effort an ongoing program into 2014 and beyond.

This program will supplement our existing beautification committee, which continues to plan strategies and work toward a more beautiful city. Also, our parks and recreation department, which always plans a "Friends of the Park" cleanup day in the spring, has plans to expand that event into a communitywide effort as everyone gets prepared for the 2014 spring and summer seasons.

I invite all citizens and commercial businesses to join in these efforts and also participate daily to make our great city not only the friendliest but the cleanest city in the area.

* I must comment on several of the destination events our city hosted during the last couple of months. First, the six weeks that 20th Century Fox was in our city filming the movie "Gone Girl." The actors and entire staff were very complimentary of our city and citizens. My thanks to all who participated or helped in any way during that filming.

* We hosted for the fourth year the State Special Olympic Games. This took a lot of effort by many volunteers, and, again, our visitors were very complimentary of the organization of the games. I would offer a special "thank you" to Scott and Penny Williams of our parks and recreation department for their continued dedication to Special Olympics.

* We hosted the state girls volleyball tournament again this year at the Show Me Center. The planning and organization of that event resulted in our city being awarded the event for another four years.

Congratulations and thank you to Chuck Martin and staff at our Convention and Visitors Bureau and all volunteers involved in showcasing our city. These events have a strong economic impact on our local economy.

Harry E. Rediger is the mayor of Cape Girardeau.