Community members work to keep Albany beautiful

ALBANY — Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful Executive Director Judy Bowles said she believes that “beauty dies where litter lies,” and on Friday morning citizens, as well as government officials, got together to make sure the beauty of Albany lives another day.

Early Friday morning, T-shirts were issued, trash bags were handed out and groups were formed as KADB’s Great American Cleanup event kicked off.

Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard addressed a crowd of more than 100, stressing the importance of the event. A raffle was held during which volunteers had the chance to earn small token’s of gratitude such as Georgia Firebirds tickets.

Groups of volunteers then scattered all across the downtown area and worked to beautify the city as best they could before impending rainfall came.

Hubbard noted that Albany is celebrating Georgia Cities Week and said the cleanup effort was a great way to observe the special week. She noted that government officials being a part of the effort sends a strong message to their constituents.

“It sends a message to me that they care about their city,” the mayor said. “They have pride and they are proud to work for the city. That’s part of what we’ve done. We’ve thanked them for the work they’ve done in the city, and I’m just proud of the turnout this morning.”

Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan said cleanup efforts such as the one downtown can have a positive impact on the city economically as well.

“It’s really important that our community looks and plays the part and making sure our environment looks great so when people come to visit us and look at us to see if we’re a good prospect for business, we want them to know that we’re a community that has pride,” Subadan said. “Also for people who live here, I want them to make sure they have community pride so after we do this cleanup today, we’re able to keep it looking really good.”

Bowles noted that 2,595 signed up to participate in the cleanup, which continues today.

“That makes an awesome statement,” she said. “They realize that how this community looks is a reflection of each and every one of us.”