Tuesday, March 21 was the day after spring officially began, and two Westfield City Council candidates took to the streets for some community spring cleaning.
The Alexis for Westfield and Gary for Westfield campaigns took time away from campaigning to work with the City of Westfield’s Public Works Department to help keep the community beautiful. Both campaigns organized their staff and volunteers to help pick up trash in the city, starting at Western Way and 146th Street and ending at the intersection of Greyhound Pass and the Monon Trail.
Campaign representatives said they hope their efforts will inspire citizens across Westfield to get more involved in beautifying the community.
“Helping to keep Westfield clean is important because it’s an outward reflection of our city’s pride – and Shamrocks have a lot of pride in Westfield,” At Large City Council Candidate Gary Lane said. “Guests to our city will see the state of our public spaces before anything else, so it’s nice to be a part of making sure we put our best foot forward.”
District 4 City Council Candidate Alexis Lowry said it was a labor of love.
“I am a big believer in taking care of the things you love,” Lowry said. “As a life-long resident, there is not much I love more than the city Westfield, which has given so much to me and my family.”
Lane said he saw it as a chance to show some appreciation to city employees.
“I think it is clear that we have a really dedicated Public Works department in Westfield,” Lane said. “This was an opportunity to show them some appreciation with a helping hand, and a chance to make a small, immediate improvement which I’m all about. You also never know how soon you’ll get a chance to enjoy decent weather again this time of year!”
Lowry said giving back to the city is very important to her.
“I hope that everyone gets the chance to go out into our city and do their part to keep Westfield beautiful,” Lowry said. “This is a specific way to give back to our community and is also an opportunity to remind all of us to be more mindful about our everyday actions, especially as it relates to how we get rid of our trash.”
They also took time to clean up a yard for one older couple in Westfield.
“I was asking Public Works about it because it is across the street from Kroger on Spring Mill and 161st,” Lowry told The Reporter. “They said it’s not technically city work because all the trash was on people’s property.”
Lowry knocked on the door to ask if she and her volunteers could help clean up that yard.
“It was an elderly couple and they said, ‘Please! We can’t keep up with it,’” Lowry said. She plans to talk to Kroger about it because she was told the trash was from bins at the store that sometimes overflow, then wind will take trash into the couple’s yard across the street. Once it is on private property, it becomes the responsibility of the homeowner to clean up.
“My next step is to go talk to Kroger to see what we can do long-term to help them,” Lowry said.
Lane asked The Reporter to thank everyone who came to help them clean up a portion of Westfield on Tuesday, especially since the entire event was organized in under 24 hours.
“We had a bigger turnout than we were expecting,” Lane said, “Many hands made light work and it as nice to see the impact that everybody made.”
Lowry and Lane are the first Democratic candidates to run in the city in 17 years.
Lowry is a foster mom, small business owner, and youth sports coach looking to bring a new perspective to Westfield.
Lane is an engineer with an MBA who says he has spent the last 15 years of his career finding efficient solutions to complex problems and is ready to bring innovation to Westfield.
If you would like to help with the next community cleanup day in Westfield, email Gary Lane at Gary4Westfield@gmail.com or Alexis Lowry at Hello@AlexisForWestfield.com.
To learn more about their individual campaigns, visit Gary4Westfield.com and AlexisForWestfield.com.
Photos provided