'A sight for sore eyes': Spring clean up efforts underway across Regina
As snow melts around Regina, garbage that has accumulated throughout the winter is appearing at a quick pace.
In the city’s North Central neighbourhood, White Pony Lodge is making an effort to combat the trash left behind by winter.
For the next three weeks, weather permitting, the community run organization is leading neighbourhood clean ups on Thursday evenings.
“Thursday evenings - before garbage pickups - we’ll be going around and going through a few different alleys, picking up as much garbage as we can, pulling out bins and making sure they’re not over full,” Leah O’Malley, the chair of the board of White Pony Lodge, said.
White Pony Lodge is partnering with Regina Dumping and Hauling and the North Central Community Association to clear garbage of all sizes away from the north central area.
O’Malley said she hopes it will make the community safer.
“There’s always things in the garbage that you don’t want lying around and flying around all the time,” O’Malley said.
Beyond that, it’s about making the neighbourhood feel more comfortable.
“We want to improve the look of the neighbourhood at the same time. I think it’s really important for us to point out and to prove that our neighbourhood is worth caring for,” O’Malley said.
On May 6, White Pony Lodge plans to host an entire day of volunteer clean up with any other community organizations and businesses that want to be involved.
Although White Pony Lodge focuses its efforts in one specific area, other parts of the city are seeing their share of trash left by winter, too.
The Saskatchewan Landlord Association said it’s the busiest time of year for its members, as more people move out of properties or gut their rentals during their spring cleaning efforts.
It’s landlords who are on the hook for ensuring properties remain tidy.
“It becomes a sight for sore eyes pretty quickly,” Cameron Choquette, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association, said.
“Under the Clean Communities Bylaw for the city, ticketing offences are going to property owners and not tenants. Without consistent babysitting of properties, landlords will typically discover some of that trash that was covered by snow over the winter.”
In order for all residents to keep their properties and neighbourhoods as tidy as possible, Choquette recommends putting garbage in its proper place.
“If that’s the blue bin or the black bin, or in the case of mattresses or larger household items that shouldn’t go in the black bin, they go directly to the landfill,” he said.
“We need tenants to really comply which those property-specific rules so that excess garbage doesn’t need to be collected because unfortunately every time we call another garbage truck to come and service a property, those are excess costs over and above the traditional service charges, which ultimately get paid for by the tenant.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From AI running wild to collapsing ecosystems, government report outlines future disruptions
From artificial intelligence running wild to collapsing ecosystems, a new Canadian government report outlines 35 disruptions that could rattle the country in the near future.
B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
opinion Tom Mulcair: With Trudeau spiralling, Mark Carney waits in the wings
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Toronto Blue Jays fan struck by 110 m.p.h foul ball offered tickets, signed baseball by team
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
Matthew Perry's death is being investigated over ketamine level found in actor's blood, reports say
An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the “Friends” actor received the anesthetic ketamine, which was ruled a contributing factor in his death.
OPP continues to investigate boat collision north of Kingston, Ont. that left 3 people dead
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
Police in Ontario say suspects charged in armed home invasion near Toronto part of 'larger criminal network'
Police in Ontario say a group of suspects charged in an armed home invasion north of Toronto last year were driving a vehicle stolen in a carjacking in Calgary just one month earlier.
Stolen septic truck swerves through traffic, spike belt needed to stop it: Manitoba RCMP
A 29-year-old woman has been charged after police say she stole a septic truck from a Manitoba community and drove erratically on the highway.
Orphan orca's extended family spotted off northeast side of Vancouver Island
Members of a killer whale pod related to an orphan orca calf that escaped a remote British Columbia tidal lagoon last month have been spotted off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.