Va-Hi, Midtown Volunteers Clean Up BeltLine Bridge

Ten volunteers from Virginia Highland and Midtown came out this morning to clean up debris and garbage left under the bridge at Monroe Drive and Virginia Avenue. 

"It was a good morning," said John Wolfinger, who leads the Virginia-Highland Safety Team. The team coordinated the clean-up with the  Midtown Ponce Security Alliance. "The underside of the Virginia Avenue bridge is now spic and span again," Wolfinger said later today in an email. "Many hands made light work of this project."

The bridge, which is part of the BeltLine trail, is a popular hangout for vagrants. Many homeless people spend their nights under the bridge, dumping trash and shopping carts when they leave the next day. 

"We need to keep the area clean and safe for all to enjoy," Peggy Denby, president of the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance and executive director of Keep Atlanta Beautiful, said yesterday in an email. 

The volunteers Saturday removed 12 shopping carts, dismantled a still-burning fire and hauled away items like a kitchen sink. The residents also removed  a large recycling bin that people had burned behind the . The fire charred the electrical box behind the restaurant. 

Denby said the two neighborhood groups have decided to formally adopt the section of the BeltLine that runs from Monroe Drive to Ponce De Leon Avenue. "I will register her formally as the adopters," Denby said in an email this afternoon. 

The volunteers said they plan to hold clean-ups regularly. "It should be on an ongoing basis," Wolfinger said. 

Clean-up volunteers include Denby, Wolfinger, Don Jones, Ed Seemann, Ann Seemann, Sgt. Bill Cooper (patrol manager of the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance), David Berl, Betsy Carson, Laura Voisinet and Stephanie Coffin.

Cooper hauled away the trash and returned the shopping carts to the proper grocery stores.