Volunteers take town’s cleanup into own hands

By ANDREW MARTINS
Staff Writer

ALLENTOWN — The members of a grassroots community organization want to beautify their town by turning their gaze to real grassroots for an hour.

The Allentown Village Initiative (AVI), which seeks to rejuvenate the borough through volunteer efforts, has created a regular beautification program called Power Hour Spruce-Up.

The cleanup — which involves pulling weeds that spring up around town — was the brainchild of AVI member Kurt Wayton, who said it is a way for residents to take ownership of their historic borough.

“I think oftentimes people will sit back and get frustrated about the state of Allentown. … I think a way to market our town and community to business ventures and prospective residents is by making the borough more attractive, cleaner and showing that people care about it,” Wayton said.

He said the idea behind the Power Hour Spruce-Up came from his trips through the area as a child.

“We used to take Route 539 up, and one of my favorite parts of that trip was driving through the little town of Allentown. It was quaint, it had a lot of shops, and it was your quintessential small town. I remember it vividly,” Wayton said. “I want to make Allentown that attractive to people who pass through nowadays, because it is a beautiful town.”

According to the AVI vision statement, the group wants to work toward creating a “vital, sustainable community where people want to stroll the village, patronize delightful businesses and experience the arts.”

The AVI is hopeful that Allentown will become a place “enhanced with imagination” and a look and feel that is appropriate for its “extraordinary” natural and historic assets.

The group’s primary goals fit perfectly with the idea of the regular cleanups, Wayton said.

“We are looking to make [Allentown] more attractive to people passing through, and hopefully we get to the point that it becomes attractive to business owners and people everywhere,” he said.

Wayton, who teaches history at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, said the cleanup can serve as an opportunity for local youths to make a difference.

“I want to have a lot of this be readily available to teenagers who are in need of gaining volunteer hours. And again, this is a chance to expose young people to the power of community action and how one hour every two weeks can make a huge difference,” he said.

Wayton has tried to promote the cleanup effort through social media. One critic of the effort saw the effort as a way of cleaning up another person’s mess.

Although Wayton said he understands there are some properties in town that need significant repairs and maintenance, he said the purpose of the cleanup is not to help the few, but rather the entire borough.

“Self-reliance only goes so far,” he said. “What about self-reliance in terms of 1,800 people in Allentown taking care of themselves instead of asking the government or other people to step in, or for a miracle to happen to where all of a sudden we have a gleaming downtown full of shops. If we want to make something happen, we have to be self-reliant. Unity is in community.”

For information about how to get involved with the Power Hour Spruce-Up, contact Wayton by sending an email to [email protected].