The sidewalks of Bristol’s Chippens Hill neighborhood provide residents with scenic views of farms, parks and the city below. Despite the captivating sights, leisurely walks are becoming increasingly difficult for some residents due to the abundance of litter strewn around the area.
“It’s just appalling how many nip bottles are in this area,” said Carolyn Perkins. “It seems like any area that doesn’t have a house on it is just free reign for people to throw trash. It’s mostly nip bottles, water bottles, bags from fast food restaurants. It’s just everything.”
Perkins is a resident of Chippens Hill who spent Sunday afternoon picking up litter in her neighborhood. Walking along the sides of Battle Street with a trash picker and 50-gallon garbage bag, Perkins said that she’s been cleaning the area for years.
Earlier the same afternoon a group of concerned citizens from the same neighborhood met for the second time at the Bristol Public Library this month with city council member Sue Tyler (R, District 2) to address the problem.
Perkins said she was not aware of the meeting, but added that she would be interested in joining future meetings.
Right: Trash on the corner of Clark Avenue and Minor Road | Laura Bailey Photo
“This is an area that we’ve cleaned up over the last 2-3 years;” said Perkins, “Battle Street, all the way up to the light. We finished that in the Spring of last year and now it’s littered with all kinds of stuff. As a matter of fact, I just cleaned this up a few weeks ago, and I’m out here again.”
Trash and nip bottles are much more than a blight on an otherwise beautiful neighborhood; Perkins has seen more perilous detritus.
“People are driving through our neighborhood drinking and it’s a danger. It’s an epidemic,” said Perkins. “I actually found a needle coming down James P. Casey last year.”
Right: Garbage collected by Perkins on Sunday afternoon. | Laura Bailey Photo
Right: Concerned citizens at the community meeting. | Laura Bailey Photo
Perkins is far from the only resident appalled by the abundance of litter. Fifteen people met with Tyler Sunday.
“One of the main reasons I ran for city council is because I’m tired of the poor image Bristol has,” said Tyler. “That really breaks my heart. We can do an awful lot to get the image of Bristol where it should be; we can really make a difference here.”
Rit Carter will be reporting on the group’s latest meeting, which was held on Sunday. The Edition previously reported on the initial meeting on Feb. 5.
Laura Bailey can be reached at lbailey@bristoledition.org
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