There wasn’t a lot to clean up as a group carrying buckets and trash grabbers made its way through a rainy Cal Anderson Park Saturday.

“You can’t have a sense of ownership if you don’t get involved,” Mike Malone of Capitol Hill developer and real estate company Hunters Capital said as he set out on a hunt for garbage.

CHS reported here last week on the one month-mark since a city sweep cleared the park of activists and homeless encampments. Much of the trash that piled up as parks workers said the area had become too dangerous to work in has been cleared away. And, though the park is again busy with people playing with their dogs and walking in the rain, the space has remained relatively tidy. Elsewhere, safety tape marks off areas where tents and encampments had worn down grass and muddy bare areas.

Saturday’s community clean-up organized by the city is part of the small steps government officials, property owners, and representatives from developers and large organizations like Seattle Central say are being taken to address issues around homelessness and the park’s place in the neighborhood. Another clean-up is slated for mid-February. Simple holiday-style tree lighting along the western edge of the park is another small project hoped to help.

For larger issues than tree lights, candy wrappers, and cigarette butts, Cal Anderson Park Alliance community discussions that began in the wake of CHOP have continued with groups and advocates working to take on new projects around the park. But there are, as of yet, no official plans for increased services and outreach, or resources like phone charging stations, rain shelters for mutual aid providers.

If you would like to get involved, you can learn more about the alliance at calandersonpark.org.

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