
NEIGHBORHOODS
COLLECTIVE EFFORTS
Volunteers put in the time so the city will shine
Ever notice that some of Port St. Lucie’s streets are
sparkling clean and litter-free? And then there are the
others where fast-food bags, cigarette butts, beverage
containers and worse turn the roadside into an ugly mess.
So, why are some streets clean and others aren’t? It’s
because the city has an army of dedicated volunteers who
go out and pick up the garbage that people toss out their vehicle
windows. But the volunteer pickups don’t occur on all
streets; they only take place on streets that have been adopted
by residents who set up a group and schedule pickups. These
groups, which can even involve a single individual, enhance
the city’s own maintenance work.
“It makes me angry that people don’t want to clean up
after themselves,” says Rubens Severe, whose family covers
three blocks in the Faye Street area east of Torino Parkway.
He and his wife bring their children along and teach them
why it is important to participate in community cleanups.
These lessons, he says, will stay with them for life.
An Adopt-a-Street sign caught Michelle Severe’s eye,
leading her to check out the city’s website and sign up. On
a typical outing, they find grocery bags, beer cans, fast-food
cups, cigarette butts, broken glass and newspapers. The family
loves to grab things to recycle. They take their finds home
to be picked up by the city on their normal garbage day, but
they call the city Department of Public Works if they discover
anything bulky.
CLEANING CONTINUALLY
Twenty-eight years ago Port St. Lucie created Keep Port
St. Lucie Beautiful, a chapter of the national Keep America
Beautiful organization. The first group to jump in was the
Lions Club from 1992 to 2012. The oldest group is Calvary
PSL, which started in 2013.
Since 1992, Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful has embarked on >>
22 Port St. Lucie Magazine
CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE PHOTOS
An Adopt-a-Street crew called Calvary PSL picks up litter in the early morning sunlight when it is safest because there are fewer cars. They use grabbers,
containers, shirts and safety vests issued by the city. The program is part of Keep Port St. Lucie Beautiful.
BY SUSAN BURGESS