ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Soraya Cacici, foreground, and Teri Faulisi put dirt into flower boxes in Central Square in Lynn as part of their efforts to beautify the area.
BY DILLON DURST
LYNN — Soraya Cacici and her neighbors were so fed up with litter in the downtown, they decided to do something about it.
Cacici, a resident at Boston Machine Lofts, along with frustrated neighbors, recently founded the Lynn Beautification Project.
The group of five volunteer property owners and tenants meet weekly to collect trash, sweep sidewalks, mulch trees and plant flowers.
“For me, this is about being so frustrated about local government,” she said. “This is a grassroots effort to be the change you want to see and many of my neighbors feel the same way. It’s a big city, the Department of Public Works (DPW) is understaffed and don’t have enough bodies to manage the beautification of the entire city.”
Trash cans are overflowing, many are broken and tagged with graffiti, she said. While the city’s street sweeping efforts work, it fails to take care of the sidewalks or litter.
“We were tired of seeing litter and tired of seeing people trashing it,” said volunteer Teri Faulisi.
Cacici, owner of Nest Forward, a Lynn-based real estate agency, said the group wants to improve the look of Central Square.
If all goes well, she said, efforts will be expanded to other parts of the downtown.
The project has received $700 in donations from The Blue Ox Restaurant, Nest Forward, Stainless Communications and a handful of residents.
Another important project goal is to help the downtown’s property values and demand for lofts through the beautification process, Cacici said. She said a clean neighborhood increases home values and attracts new businesses.
“There’s lots of evidence showing that by beautifying public spaces, neighborhoods can displace drug-related activity and make streets less vulnerable to crime,” she said. “People feel safer walking around cleaner streets.”
So far, Cacici said volunteers have mulched most of the tree pits in Central Square and installed three planters on Thursday, in addition to trash collection and sweeping.
Several members of the group agreed that the targeted areas of beautification are noticeably cleaner, and they’ve been getting compliments from residents.
“It looks a lot more maintained and clean,” Faulisi said. “We love the positive feedback.”
Lisa Nerich, DPW associate commissioner, said seasonal workers have been assigned to cleaning the downtown. She said the department is always looking for volunteers to help keep the city clean.
“It’s a great program,” Nerich said of the new project. “It’s great to see people coming together to clean the city … people need to take more pride in the city.”
But Cacici, who works from her Willow Street home, insisted that she hasn’t seen any seasonal workers.
“If they are here, I’d like to know where they are hiding,” she said. “Where are they? I’ve never seen them.”
Dillon Durst can be reached at [email protected].
Thomas Grillo contributed to this report.
