Cry me a river

I know I’ve used that before, but, really, it’s the only title possible.

Today is National Rivers Day, and I joined a group of volunteers sponsored by Save the Bay, Creek Connections Action Group and City of San José to clean up a stretch of the Guadalupe River.

There were about 25 volunteers, many of them kids doing community service, but with a healthy number of people just there to do the right thing.

I’ve gone on elsewhere about my hatred for plastic bags. Everyone who writes outraged letters to the editor about the utter unfairness of any proposed ban on plastic bags should be required to pick up trash along a waterway for a couple hours.

This stretch of the Guadalupe has other challenges. I decided that the city would do well to sweep the street more often, at least the section that has a curb.

And siting a Goodwill donation station right along the river was, in hindsight, perhaps not the best decision.

We cleaned around two homeless encampments. I wish that the County, City and Water District would coordinate their periodic homeless sweeps with the creek cleanup days in May and September.

There are always silly finds.

Despite the inevitable feeling of helpless rage, I also enjoy being near the waterway for its own sake.

I had to leave after two hours, to get ready for this afternoon’s big event, the WPCP open house. But in that time, the group had already pulled out a huge pile of trash.

Well, I had to blog, too, right? Stay tuned for an account of the water treatment plant shindig.

ETA: Here is a nice article about the cleanup in the Merc. I didn’t find a lizard.