The Bright Side

A couple months ago I heard it mentioned that Greg Roberts, president of the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association, had set up a meeting with represenatatives of Operation Brightside in Louisville with an eye to creating a Brightside-like organization for New Albany.

Just exactly what is Operation Brightside and what does it do?

Operation Brightside was set up by Mayor Jerry Abramson in 1986 as partnership between citizens and governement with a mission of cleaning up Louisville. It operates as a non-profit corporation with a full time paid staff and a volunteer board of directors.

Operation Brightside oversees 4 programs:

Cleanups--Operation Brightside sponsors neighborhood cleanups by suppling bags, gloves, and trash disposal.

Beautification Programs--Neighbor groups and businesses purchase intersections, meadians, street-side parks. There is also a community garden program.

Green Mile--Groups and businesses sign up to keep stretches of roads clean.

Environmental Education--Conducts programs for schools.

www.loukymetro.org/department/brightside/default.asp

One thing that the Operation Brightside web page doesn't mention is whether the help they provide to neighborhoods doing cleanups extends to code enforcement.

It seems obvious that an organization like this would be an asset to New Albany.

Several specific projects immediately come to mind:

Neighborhood Clean Ups--especially in the older neighborhoods and downtown the alleys need to be cleaned up. Many yards in the older neighborhoods and in some subdivisions need to be cleaned up.

Parking Lot Beautification--we all know that parking will be the first objection to downtown business development. Since so many buildings have been torn down there seems to be ample room for additional parking. Wouldn't it be nice if the parking lots could be attractively landscaped? Businesses and organizations could sign on to maintain the landscaping.

Park Beautification--a couple years ago I had the opportunity to visit all of the parks in New Albany with teenagers who were doing an inventory of outdoor recreational facilities in New Albany. Except for Community Park, our parks have only the most basic equipment and facilities. A little landscaping would go along way toward improving the aesthetics of our parks.

Community Gardens--in our older neighborhoods there are often vacant lots where the houses have been lost to fire or neglect. Some community gardens tucked into open spaces would add to the character and appeal of the older neighborhoods.