For the fourth time in Ballard, Mayor Greg Nickels held his Clean and Green Seattle initiative here today, May 2, and decided to take on a new area from the usual clean-up in past years.

This morning with the assistance of Nickels, volunteers and community members took on a new target area beginning at Marvin's Garden Park and continuing on to surrounding areas bounded by 24th and 20th Northwest from Northwest Market to Shilshole Northwest.

“In our 98th Clean-Green Seattle event and fourth in Ballard, this is a great chance for me to fill up those Saturday morning hours and learn about what is going on around here,” Nickels said. “I want to acknowledge that overtime these Saturday mornings do make a difference.”

In the 98 Clean-Green cleanups, Nickels said that the city has collected more than 536,000 pounds of litter and debris, recycled nine tons of recyclable materials, used 114 tons of asphalt for pot holes and street repairs and painted out 6305 graffiti sights, which he acknowledged is an issue in Ballard.

A number of neighborhood residents, Ballard business owners and members of Ballard community groups were on hand to help. Great Harvest Bread Co. and Market Street Starbucks provided refreshments before the city distributed tools and equipment to start the clean-up in the heart of Ballard.

Those involved took part in painting out graffiti, removing litter and other debris from both public and private property, clearing and installing mulch in street tree pits, removing old posters and staples from utility poles, pruning public area landscaping and installing new plant material.

“It (Clean-Green Seattle) just makes a difference,” said Nickels. “It brings together neighbors who are volunteering their time, city departments get to learn about what the challenges are so there will be follow-up on issues you have here, and it creates a great partnership, so hopefully you meet a new neighbor as well.”