Please clean your property for State Cleanest City, judging on April 24

The City of Plaquemine and local organizations are once again making sure the city is clean and beautiful as they prepare for the state Cleanest City judging on April 24.

Residents are urge to do their part by cleaning their property, making sure their lawns are mowed and edged, and that flowerbeds are groomed.

The city and these organizations have put in weeks of hard work cleaning, painting, edging, re-planting flowerbeds, adding crepe myrtle trees and more. Their hard work resulted in the City winning the District F competition in the Louisiana Garden Club Federation's Cleanest City Contest in March.

The city now moves on to the state District F judging April 24.

"A lot of people and organizations have put a lot of hard work into making Plaquemine beautiful, and we are asking residents to help by doing their part," said Mayor Edwin "Ed" Reeves, Jr. "We want to show the state we are proud of our city and bring that state title home to Plaquemine!"

Reeves again thanked city crews who worked tirelessly for weeks in preparation for the judging. He also thanked the Plaquemine Garden Club and Garden Club President Sheryl Ramirez and member Donna Carville for providing invaluable assistance. Finally, he thanked the organizations that volunteered for a variety of clean-up activities, both before the district judging and again for the state judging.

They include the Master Gardeners, St. John High School senior class, Dow Chemical Co. volunteer group, Plaquemine Lions Club, Girl Scouts, Plaquemine Main Street Program, Knights of Columbus Council 970, Plaquemine Service League, Westside Community Church Youth Group, and St. John Church & Cemetery volunteers.

Mayor Reeves pushed for the city the enter the contest as part of his initiative to clean up the city, which was one of his top priorities when he took office.

Cleaning, painting and organizing all city properties, along with getting tough on property owners who have unkept property and abandoned vehicles, were big parts of that initiative.

In the past two years, the city has send over 400 notices to property owners for vehicle violations, resulting in hundreds of dilapidated vehicles being towed away. It has also demolished 21 dilapidated houses.

"The city picks up a huge amount of litter weekly," said Mayor Reeves. "This is a huge waste of time and resources that could be used on many other city projects. Please take pride in your community and don't litter! Let’s clean-up and win the State Cleanest City honor!"

Contributed by the City of Plaquemine