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With spring weather arriving, two cleanups are scheduled in downtown Johnstown.
First, crews from the Cambria County court system will descend on the downtown from April 11-15. They will focus on removing debris from sidewalks.
The idea came from Marie Mock and Rose Howarth, two City Council members who have used the county work crews to perform work in the city’s West End neighborhood.
“The county has been very good to work with,” Mock said.
The downtown will be divided into five sections, with workers assigned to a different section each day.
There is no cost to the city, and Mock said the effort is designed to assist Johnstown’s Public Works Department.
“The city does what it can, but they’re spread so thin,” Mock said.
A month later, Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership’s fifth annual “Operation Clean Sweep” will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 15 in downtown Johnstown. Rain date is May 22.
Volunteers will meet at 11 a.m. in Central Park to get the day rolling.
“Operation Clean Sweep” is a general cleanup of the downtown. Participants are asked to bring brooms, blowers, rakes, gloves, garbage bags and the like, said the partnership’s Mark W. Lazzari.
A picnic for the volunteers is planned in the park after the cleanup, he said.
Lazzari said there are four main ways to get involved in “Operation Clean Sweep”:
• Focus efforts along a street or around an area.
• Volunteer all around the downtown.
• Make donations of flowers, plants and/or planting materials.
Native annuals and perennial flowers or small plants are preferred, the partnership said.
• Make a monetary donation.
Lazzari said checks should be made out to Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership (Johnstown Business District Coalition Inc.). He said all donations will go to “Operation Clean Sweep” or other downtown beautification efforts.
Last year, as many as 200 volunteers participated in the downtown cleanup, he said.
Natural Biodiversity partnered with the partnership and the city for the 2010 cleanup.
Several businesses and service organizations pitched in as did the Greater Johnstown High School football team.
The overall goal is to improve the visual quality of downtown Johnstown, Lazzari said.
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