Today, I once again participated in an Upper Haight-area trash pickup event which I found out about through Bay Resistance.
I thought of this as the "Safe & Healthy Haight" pickup, but when I got there, organizer Eric said that S&HH hasn't done much trash-pickup-wise lately. Their name is on old flyers, but not on new flyers. Lately, he's been getting supplies from Refuse Refuse.
That said, Eric doesn't run his event much like that Refuse Refuse event I went to a couple of weeks ago. Instead of expecting all volunteers to show up ~at once and work together, Eric had supplies available for a two-hour stretch. So: show up when you want, pick up trash for a while, then stop when you want. Since nobody else showed up at around the time I did, I picked up trash on my own this time. (I wasn't patient enough to wait for a "buddy")
(I wonder if the everyone-at-the-same-time approach might have some advantages, community-building-wise: it meant the organizer could pair up volunteers. Remember that I picked up trash with a guy who got into it when he moved to SF and wanted to make friends. If he makes friends through an organization, maybe he's more likely to keep showing up.) (I wonder if the everyone-at-the-same-time approach might have some disadvantages, community-building-wise: if you wake up late on Sunday morning, instead of thinking Ah, I'll be a little later than usual, but I can still pick trash for an hour, you might instead think I guess I'll skip it this month.)
I noticed some residents and passers-by thanking me. Maybe more than than last time?
