It went well, the joint WWALS and City of Valdosta cleanup of Two Mile Branch at Berkley Drive, on March 25, 2023.

Many good things have happened since then.

However, there is still plenty the City needs to do about trash.

Collage @ Two Mile Branch Cleanup 2023-03-25

Thanks to Bobby McKenzie for leading, neighbor Jan Powell for rustling up some participants and helping at the table, to City Engineer Ben O’Dowd, City Council Tim Carroll, and Mayor Scott James Matheson for helping, along with quite a few other volunteers.

See also facebook photosets and videos by:

• Bobby McKenzie,
• Russell Allen McBride,
• City of Valdosta,
• City Beat Magazine, page 6,
• and probably others.

Some of the things the Engineer and Mayor promised have happened.

Valdosta did buy an upgraded WaterGoat trash trap for Sugar Creek; see City Beat Magazine page 5, That’s downstream from Two Mile Branch and One Mile Branch. Also just upstream from the Withlacoochee River.

The city moved the old WaterGoat to Berkley Drive on Two Mile Branch.

Valdosta Community Protections Manager Anetra Riley says City Marshalls have sent notices to all parking lot owners in Valdosta that they must follow city ordinances and place trash cans in their parking lots: not just under the roofs at the store entrances: strategically placed, as the ordinance says.

Plus there are trash cans in the city-owned parking lot in front of City Hall.

Others are still to do, such as the promised trash traps at Oak Street on Two Mile Branch and at Country Club Drive on Three Mile Branch, keep Click ‘n’ Fix tickets open and do something to decrease use of single-use disposable trash.

Oh, and those notices and citations still have not gotten all the parking lots cleaned up, nor the dumpsters stopped overflowing.

Meanwhile, WWALS won the statewide Georgia Rivers Alive Adopt-A-Stream cleanup award for the second year running 2023-04-27.

Richard Hardy became first Interim City Manager (see City Beat Magazine, page 4), and then actual City Manager.

Join us on Sugar Creek to Troupville, Withlacoochee River Cleanup 2023-07-22. City Council Andy Gibbs asked for that one, and says he will be there.

For more about the trash situation, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/trash

There are more pictures below.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

BR

Bobby and Russell, 2023:03:25 08:04:37, 30.8629697, -83.3021167

BOD

City Engineer Ben O’Dowd, neighbor Jan Poweell, City Council Tim Carroll, 2023:03:25 08:04:50, 30.8629697, -83.3021167

Banners

Volunteers, WWALS and City of Valdosta, 2023:03:25 08:13:25, 30.8629556, -83.3017172

Speeches

Bobby McKenzie outlining the cleanup, 2023:03:25 08:14:08, 30.8628429, -83.3020654

11 – 15

Movie: I really appreciate everybody coming out –Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, (56M) 30.8628429, -83.3020654

VM

Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson with a trash bag, 2023:03:25 08:22:20, 30.8627695, -83.3019280

TC

City Council Tim Carroll, 2023:03:25 08:27:48, 30.8634499, -83.3020863

NB

Nandina berries, poisonous to all animals, 2023:03:25 08:36:43, 30.8630816, -83.3020316

ME

Mayor picking up trash between two exotic invasive species, 2023:03:25 08:48:20, 30.8636422, -83.3021599

MCM

Mayor Scott James Matheson, City Council Tim Carroll, City Manager Richard Hardy, 2023:03:25 08:48:59, 30.8636422, -83.3021599

CM

Acting City Manager Richard Hardy, 2023:03:25 08:49:11, 30.8636422, -83.3021599

BD

Beaver dam, 2023:03:25 08:58:35, 30.8635354, -83.3024407

ZD

Zacadoo’s cup, 2023:03:25 09:07:21, 30.8633856, -83.3027039

BDrive

Back at Berkley Drive, 2023:03:25 09:24:54, 30.8631572, -83.3019777

CME

Council Tim Carroll, City Manager Richard Hardy, Engineer Ben O’Dowd, neighbor Jan Powell, 2023:03:25 09:30:41, 30.8631589, -83.3020070

LS

Mack Drive Station, 606 Howellbrook Drive, 2023:03:25 09:50:35, 30.8618439, -83.2981396

BW

Buried wheels, 2023:03:25 09:58:45, 30.8622966, -83.2982368

WPO

Water pipe outflow under a yard, 608 Howellbrook Drive, 2023:03:25 10:07:50, 30.8617220, -83.2991020

ZC

Zacadoo’s cup, intact, 2023:03:25 10:11:23, 30.8624574, -83.2994384

TT

Trash trailer getting full, 2023:03:25 10:23:35, 30.8616717, -83.2995149

DD

Don Davis, Lowndes County Historical Society and Museum, 2023:03:25 10:42:36, 30.8627107, -83.3017916

Fin

That’s a wrap, 2023:03:25 10:42:56, 30.8627107, -83.3017916

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

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