BY AMBER J. CRAFT
Special to the Telegraph
What started as a complaint in a local Facebook group about the cleanliness of Wainwright Park resulted in action by a small group of local residents when they decided to get together and do something about it on September 7.
The City of Starke had already cleaned the bathroom facility, mowed, and replaced all broken equipment, but the volunteers came out to pick up trash and see if they could do anything else to help keep the park clean.
My granddaughter plays here
Michael Heeder, owner of Funtastic Fire Brigade, and Clay Hicks, owner of Hicks Lawncare, saw the social media post and met up on that Sunday to provide lawn care services and ensure the park was clean.
“It’s nice when the community steps up, steps out, and takes care of supporting the efforts of the City of Starke, Bradford County, State of Florida, or whoever happens to be in charge of the area,” Heeder said. “Example being the gentleman who is working on the park right now. He’s taking time out, doesn’t want anything out of it other than he’s going to bring his one-year-old son here. He wants to make sure his child has a safe place to play. And I have a granddaughter who likes to come up here to play. I want to make sure she has a safe place to play. That gives us the incentive to make sure that if there’s something we can do to support the efforts of the city, we’re going to do it.”
Social media’s distorted picture
The small business owner added that negative commentary on social media sites has become a part of our modern-day culture. The back-and-forth snark neighbors trade with each other does little to resolve the problem, and many times, it can be brutal and unnecessary. However, on occasion, it can highlight areas in the community that may need attention and improvement.
“There is a disconnect,” Heeder said. “(The problems are) not as prevalent as one would think if you’re only focused on social media. A few like to promote the bad, but in the grand scheme of things, the City of Starke, Bradford County, and these organizations do remarkable work.”
“It’s a small town,” he continued. “You’re always going to have folks who are going to be the naysayers. You’re always going to have the folks that are going to complain and point out problems, but realistically? You want those people. You need those people. Those are the squeaky wheels that make the community go- hey, you know what? This guy may be a jerk about it, but he’s right. What can we do to make it better? And that’s how we end up getting community involvement.”
Beyond posting and commenting
This time, instead of another negative social media thread without any resolution, a decision was made to do something about it. Several community members rallied around the idea, offering to volunteer their time and effort. It’s a start with the hope of more volunteering their time and skills with future clean-up events.
“There’s a very strong bond of community effort in this town that no one really notices,” Heeder remarked while offering an example. “The food pantry every Friday where food is distributed to hundreds of people every week. Unless you drive by the fairgrounds, and you see the line of vehicles you have no idea that happens. But the folks who do the food pantry do incredible work every week to make sure those in need have something for their families. So, there’s more good than bad.”
Plague of vandalism
Drew Mullins, Starke City Manager, explained that Wainwright Park has experienced consistent vandalism and littering in particular. The Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program $50,000 grant is awarded each year to one park to assist in the maintenance and upkeep. However, the grant cannot be awarded consecutively to the same park every year. That means each park has a budget that must factor in regular maintenance and operational costs. When there are damaged playground and facility equipment incidents brought on by vandalism, that grant money has to be used to repair and replace those things instead of possibly improving and adding new features to the park.
Mullins stated that the state grant awarded to Wainwright Park must be used to replace constantly destroyed playground and bathroom facility equipment, in addition to the regular maintenance and operational costs of keeping the park clean and safe. No sooner does the city replace the equipment than it is broken or vandalized again.
“We now have to special order metal toilets to hopefully stop people from breaking them, which has happened several times,” Mullins said. “Seems to be one thing after another.”
The city manager explained why Wainwright Park was particularly unclean around the time the original Facebook poster complained about the cleanliness of the park. “The FRDAP grant just came through.” The delay in funds prevented the city from keeping the park as clean as it normally does. A representative for the City of Starke quickly addressed the concern on the original Facebook thread. They sent a crew out the very next day to clean the park. “We empty trash cans twice a week,” Mullins said. “We have people monitoring the cleanliness of the parks twice a week.”
See something, say something
Mullins also explained that Wainwright Park has a camera system streamed directly to the sheriff’s office, which could aid in catching vandalism. “If everybody would be more observant and call the sheriff’s office if you see something,” Mullins reasoned, the solution to cutting down on vandalism and littering would be for residents to actively report instances when they see them.
During the clean-up event, 14-year-old Leighla Williams rode up on a bike and commented on the volunteers’ efforts: “The park’s never looked so good,” the teen said. “I come here every day. The kids, when they’re over there playing basketball, always leave their trash. People come out here and drink alcohol at night. At night, you see a lot of cars parked on the side.”
Leighla’s sister, 11-year-old Farrah Williams, agreed. “Yesterday, I got over here with my siblings, and there are boys over there just littering.”
Stop complaining and fix it
Some cleanup volunteers said the issue might not be one of local government accountability but local citizens picking up after themselves and reporting incidents of vandalism.
“The ones that put forth the effort are the ones who have a vested interest,” one volunteer remarked. “The question that the community as a whole has to ask themselves is, what can be done to bring in those who don’t have a vested interest?”
Another volunteer said, “You can spend two hours complaining, or you can take five minutes and fix it.”
If you would like to volunteer your time and skills for a future local clean-up event, contact 904-290-1010.
