Taking a Bite Out of Blight

Educating youth is a big part of Mayor O'Leary's anti-blight plan. Following the example set by PAL, in which children began taking pride in picking up litter instead of just walking past it, the Blight Task Force held an Anti-Blight and Litter Slogan Contest in February.

The winners of the contest were announced and the new slogan and logo were unveiled last week:

Mosies Vega, Rotella Magnet School, Grade 5 - Slogan Contest Winner

Fatime Kaliki, Wallace Middle School, Grade 6 - Slogan Contest Finalist

Katherine Abreu, Crosby High School, Grade 10 - Slogan Contest Finalist

Tye Proctor, Crosby High School, Grade 12 - Logo Design Winner

Photo from Mayor O'Leary's Facebook page.

The slogan and logo will be used in school literature, on posters, t-shirts, bumper stickers, billboards, and city buses.

This is an important step in creating a culture of cleanness. Our city's children are growing up surrounded by blight and litter. Picking up litter is not instinctive. By teaching our children that it's not okay to ignore litter, that keeping things clean is a good thing, they will be less likely to litter, and our city's future will be a little brighter.

Best of Waterbury Nominations

It's that time again! The Waterbury Observer is taking nominations for the Best of Waterbury awards. This year, you can conveniently vote online, download the form and fill it in by hand, or go old-school and pick up a copy of the Observer and fill out the form inside.

Ballots must be received by April 30, 2012. Results will be published in the Observer in mid-June.

If you fill out 25 categories on the ballot, and fill in your personal information, you will be entered to win $400 in gift certificates to area restaurants. Very cool.

One ballot per person.

Thank you again to everyone who voted this the Best Blog in 2011. I would love to win again this year, so if you like this blog, please vote for it!

Stripping Down Chase

Not much left to this building now. Seeing more of it disappear every week is a powerful experience.