From Mayor Finch:
Tree plantings, neighborhood cleanups and beautification projects are some of the many events planned for the City’s observance of Earth Week 2012 beginning April 16 through 22. Mayor Bill Finch was joined by representatives from community organizations throughout the City to make the announcement during a press conference held today in the newly opened green space outside City Hall Annex at the corner of State and Broad Streets.
“I celebrated the first Earth Day 42 years ago, and I am happy to see how much this day has grown, especially here in Bridgeport,” said Mayor Finch. “We have a week or more of events to celebrate the strides Bridgeport has made in becoming the cleanest, greenest city in the region, and all of our partners throughout the community who are helping us achieve this goal.”
During the press conference, Mayor Finch highlighted the City’s progress on several sustainability projects laid out in his BGreen 2020 greenprint for Bridgeport. A major success has been the City’s conversion to single stream recycling, with the help of recycling rewards partner RecycleBank. Since September 2011, recycling rates are up nearly 200 percent across the City. City residents can now sign up for RecycleBank rewards using a new automated phone service at 1-888-727-2978.
The City’s Earth Week celebration will kick off on Monday, April 16 at 2 p.m., when the Mayor unveils two Public Facilities department trucks that were recently converted to run on liquefied natural gas. The event will take place at Enviro Express, 555 Wordin Avenue, the only natural gas filling station east of the Mississippi River.
Other highlights include:
· Greater Bridgeport Transit will unveil its new hybrid buses on Friday, April 20 at the downtown bus terminal. For more information on GBT/s schedule of events log on to gogbt.com· Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo will host the ‘Party for the Planet,’ set for Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22.
· The Downtown Special Services District in conjunction with the City will host a Downtown Neighborhood Cleanup on Saturday, April 22 at 10 a.m.
· On April 28, which is Arbor Day, the City will also launch its School Beautification Project at Curiale School. This initiative will use a school as a hub to engage the community to help clean up the school and the surrounding neighborhood, too.
A full list of Earth Week events can be found online at www.bridgeportearthweek.com
Schedule of Earth Week Events:
For updates go to www.bridgeportearthweek.com
Monday, April 16, 2012
2 p.m. Mayor Bill Finch to unveil the City’s recently converted Public Works Trucks, Enviro Express, 555 Wordin Ave.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
2 p.m. Mayor Bill Finch will deliver Mayor’s Beautification Awards to two property owners, Locations TBD
Friday, April 20, 2012
4 p.m. Mayor Bill Finch and Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker will unveil the Greater Bridgeport Transit’s new hybrid buses, GBT Bus Terminal, 710 Water Street
Saturday, April 21, 2012
9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo’s Party for the Planet, 1875 Noble Avenue
10 a.m. Groundwork Bridgeport’s Weekend of Tree Plantings in Partnership with the City of Bridgeport’s Adopt-a-Tree program, meets at Groundwork Bridgeport offices, 480 Barnum Avenue, Suite #3
1 p.m. – Mayor Bill Finch and the GBT will launch the East End Market Link, a free bus service for City Seniors, Location TBD
Sunday, April 22, 2012
9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo’s Party for the Planet, 1875 Noble Avenue
10 a.m. Groundwork Bridgeport’s Weekend of Tree Plantings in Partnership with the City of Bridgeport’s Adopt-a-Tree program, meets at Groundwork Bridgeport offices, 480 Barnum Avenue, Suite #3
10 a.m. Mayor Bill Finch and the Downtown Special Services District host a Downtown Neighborhood Cleanup, Meet at McLevy Green
1 p.m. Earth Space 2012, a Celebration of Music, Arts and Poetry, McLevy Green
4 p.m. Screening of “The Vanishing of Bees,” City Lights Gallery, 37 Markle Court
Beyond Earth Week:
Thursday, April 26, 2012 (Frederick Law Olmsted Day)
10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Live “Urban Design” Demonstration at Baldwin Plaza by the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Baldwin Plaza (Corner of Broad Street and Fairfield Avenue)
4 p.m. Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ movie screening of “Women in Dirt” in celebration of Olmsted Day, The Bijou Theatre, 275 Fairfield Avenue
Saturday, April 28, 2012 (Arbor Day)
9 a.m. Groundwork Bridgeport’s Park City Sweep, City-wide cleanup, meets at Groundwork Bridgeport offices, 480 Barnum Avenue, Suite #3
9:30 a.m. Mayor Bill Finch and students from Black Rock School will plant trees, St. Mary’s by the Sea
10 a.m. Bridgeport Public Schools Beautification Project Kickoff, Curiale School, 300 Laurel Avenue
Earth Week, Going Green and the rest of that bullshit is a waste of time. I know some of that stuff is good but this airhead we have for a mayor takes it too far.
We have a park being built in an area where no one lives, he took 7 acres of industrially zoned land to build this park on.
We have a person being paid a high salary to give out rain barrels that will be used to collect rain runoff and store it. Mr. Mayor, have you ever heard of West Nile Virus?
How much is all of this green and earth day BS costing us?
The announcement should have been “Earth to Mayor, Earth to Mayor Week.” This guy is clueless. Unless there is meaningful economic development in Bridgeport soon, there will be nothing to sustain. We’ll be able to put the whole city in the Recyclebank.
Green Puffing
*** “THINK GREEN,” CELEBRATE WITH THE CITY AND MAYOR IN PLANTING A “MARY-JANE” BUSH ON EARTH DAY, NO? ***