The City of Sterling Heights continues to encourage residents to care for and beautify their properties through a myriad of efforts, with a focus on the bi-annual SHINE event slated for this Saturday, May 5.
According to Community Relations Director Bridget Kozlowski, roughly 80 volunteers will clean more than 30 homes up this Saturday with projects ranging from lawn care, leaf raking, pruning of bushes, home painting and more.
The Sterling Heights Initiative for Neighborhood Excellence (SHINE) is a citywide cleanup program aimed at protecting property values by encouraging all residents to maintain the exterior of their homes. Community Relations works with civic and church groups to provide volunteers for those residents who cannot maintain their property due to a physical or age-related condition. Volunteers help the residents with chores such as raking, pruning dead flowers, and picking up debris.
Since its inception in 2012, the SHINE program has cleaned up more than 300 homes through its spring and fall bi-annual events.
The City is also in its second month of “Spring Sterling Pride,” an initiative by the City of Sterling Heights, to encourage residents and members of the community to "take pride" in their property. The activities throughout April and May focused on preserving and beautifying the City’s existing green space, cleaning up residential neighborhoods and encouraging the planting of trees on both public and private property.
This month, the Department of Public Works (DPW) will host its annual Clean Up Saturdays on May 5, 12, and 19 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their facility located at 7200 18 Mile Road. This event is for residents only and allows residents to clean up their backyards, basements, closets and more to get rid of almost any item that can be found around the house. Residents may bring items like furniture, lumber, tires, dirt, tree stumps to dispose of.
Public Works Director Mike Moore said DPW will accept most anything at its Clean-Up Saturdays event, but Items that will not be accepted include: commercial waste, air conditioning units, ammunition or explosives, DEA controlled substances, lab chemicals, non-standard gases, radioactive materials, shock sensitive materials, unknown/unidentified gases and medical sharps. All other items will be subject to inspection at the time of the event.
Media with questions about the event can contact Community Relations Director Bridget Kozlowski at (586) 446-2471 or email bkoz@sterling-heights.net.