Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful volunteers were out and about Wednesday night, rating our area on its cleanliness.
The group has held this Litter Index event since 2001, pinpointing certain areas that need some work. Finding open spaces with trash is unfortunately common in Sun Valley and some of its surrounding areas, but this definitely isn't the worst of it.
"Sun Valley, we have seen couches, we've seen tires, refrigerators, just all kinds of appliances," says Laura White with KTMB.
KTMB rates neighborhoods on a scale of one to four. A one means there is virtually no litter in sight, while a four means major illegal dumpsites are present. Sun Valley's rating last year was 2.3.
"Looking around, I would say it's about a two," says White. "We do see some litter out here, but in the past, it's been a three or four which is what we would consider an illegal dumpsite."
Volunteers say ideally, the index will inspire people to clean up their own neighborhoods.
"It makes me feel good," says David White, a volunteer with KTMB. "I like to help out the community the best I can."
Donna McKinnel lives in Sun Valley and says she's seen dumping decrease. She says more neighbors are writing down license plate numbers and handing them over to authorities.
"Because you used to see people come up with a whole load, pick-up load, come back down empty," she says. "And, you know what they were doing."
But the problem is far from over.
"I come home from work one day and somebody had thrown a couch over my back gate, thrown it right over my gate into my yard," says McKinnell.
There are people like McKinnell who want their neighborhoods cleaned up, but then there are the ones who toss couches and appliances, making everybody look bad.
"There's a lot of places that are junkie here, but there's a lot of people here that are fairly cleaning it up," she says.
KTMB released its results and unfortunately, scores for both Sun Valley and our area as a whole dropped. Sun valley is now a 2.4, while overall we are at a 1.7, down from last year's 1.4.
Written by Adam Rasmussen
