People Power Vs. Weeds

Gene Dunn, a 63-year-old resident of Ventura, California cuts weeds with his square shovel on public streets. City leaders would like to recruit an army of Gene Dunns.

1 minute read

February 28, 2011, 12:00 PM PST

By Tim Halbur

Retired firefighter Gene Dunn was frustrated with continually seeing weeds growing on public sidewalks in his neighborhood, and decided to become a de facto public servant.

Ventura Mayor (and frequent Planetizen contributor) Bill Fulton applauded Dunn's activities and is calling for an expanded volunteer program to do work like weeding that the city can't afford to keep up do to budget constraints:

From the Ventura County Star:

"We have come to realize the value of volunteers more than ever before," said Fulton, who announced a goal of recruiting 200 new volunteers in 2011 in his recent State of the City address. "The city simply cannot provide the solutions to all of our problems."

Thanks to Mishauno Woggon

FULL STORY: Ventura Man Refuses to get Lost in the Weeds

Sunday, February 20, 2011 in Ventura County Star

Community / Economic Development California community involvement the new normal volunteer partnership View More

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