The man partly responsible the city of Leavenworth’s annual “Trash Bash” cleanup day has set his sights on Lansing.
Jerry Gerleman approached the Lansing City Council during a work session on Thursday about the city joining their neighbors to the north — Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth — in an areawide trash pick up day.
Gerleman said he approached the Leavenworth City Commission about stepping up enforcement of codes, and since then he, with support from the city and others in the community, has produced brochures and handed out trash bags in area schools and to the city’s residents to encourage them to keep the city clean.
That resulted in the “Trash Bash,” usually scheduled in April.
“Citizens’ participation in a commission-sponsored event,” Gerleman said.
In the years since he said the program was initiated in Leavenworth, the number of code violations reported to the city has increased and once a year teams of residents and organizations take zones and pick up the city.
“It became apparent that many people are very interested in cleaning up our town,” he said.
Since 2001, Lansing has had their own citywide opportunity for residents to take their disposables to the Leavenworth County Transfer Station on Gilman Road — one in the fall and one in the spring, though the city has considered cutting the fall cleanup because of costs.
“It’s been very successful,” City Administrator Mike Smith said.
But Gerleman said what he would like to see is a day set aside for Leavenworth, Lansing and the fort all host a “trash bash” at the same time and encouraged Lansing to meet with Leavenworth and the fort.
Gerleman said he thought opening the communication and bringing the “trash bash” to all of the communities could ultimately have positive effects on the city.
“If we keep our yards clean and our houses clean then our communities will be clean and it’ll be a lot safer place,” Gerleman said.
