Somerton offers neighborhood cleanup program

SOMERTON — Are you a Somerton resident who wants to get rid of old furniture, broken appliances or other items you can't fit in a garbage container?

The city will take it off your hands during its fall neighborhood cleanup campaign next month.

From Nov. 5 to Nov. 30, city public works employees will go from neighborhood to neighborhood to pick up discarded items residents leave at curbside. And the service is free.

Somerton Public Works Director Samuel Palacios is asking residents to make the workers' job easier by collecting small items together in boxes or bags and tying tree branches in bundles.

Items that won't be accepted for cleanup include construction materials, trash normally collected by the city garbage trucks, tires, pressure tanks, and hazardous materials such as pesticides or chemicals.

“We hope that residents make good use of this program and that they put out on the street only the items that are allowed, in a way that is easy for the workers to carry it away.”

Residents can start gathering what they want to toss, but Palacios said they should leave out the items no sooner than a week before the cleanup program is scheduled to arrive in their areas.

The workers will pick up discarded items in neighborhoods in what is designated as Area 1 from Nov. 5 to 9. That area is bounded by County 15th Street on the north, Avenue E on the west, Main Street on the south and Somerton Avenue on the west.

From Nov. 12-16, the cleanup will be in Area 2, bounded by County 15th, Somerton Avenue, Main Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue.

From Nov. 19-23, the cleanup will be in Area 3, located between Main, Somerton Canal, County 17th Street and Somerton Avenue.

Nov. 26-30, Area 4 will be collected. That area is between Main, Somerton Avenue, County 17th Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue.

For more information, call the public works department at (928) 722-7399.