'We just want to spruce it up and take pride in our neighbourhood': Volunteers clean-up alleys in Windsor’s Via Italia

Volunteers clean-up Via Italia Volunteers spent their Saturday morning collecting garbage from the alleys of Windsor's Via Italia. CTV Windsor's Alana Hadadean reports.

Windsor, Ont. — Janet Masse has been living in the Via Italia neighbourhood for seven years and wants to keep her community safe.

“We do get a lot of needles and things in the alleys and garbage,” says Masse, who lives on Louis Avenue.

Around 40 volunteers came out to clean the alleyways along Erie Street Saturday.

“We wanted to help give back to the community and help out the area little bit,” says Bella Cope.

“We are here to support the community, clean up the environment and make it better,” says Anthony Presti.

Masse says it’s important for both businesses and residents to stand up for their neighbourhood.

“We just want to spruce it up and take pride in the neighborhood. It’s such a great place to live,” she says.

“There was some refuse, some debris but overall not terrible. So it’s wonderful and it just goes to show people do care about the area and they do want to maintain it and keep it clean which is wonderful,” says Brandi Myles, Via Italia coordinator.

“Alleys tend to be the unloved step child of our municipal infrastructure. They’re hidden behind houses. The dirty stuff happens there, the garbage collection,” says Ward 4 councilor, Chris Holt.

Backed by the City of Windsor and Windsor police, the Via Italia alley safety project is part of a BIA initiative to continue alley improvements in making the area safer.

“Eyes on the street promotes safety and security as well. So the more people we get using the alleys for their commute, for their walk to the bakery, the store, the market the less crime we actually see in the alleys,” says Holt.

The first phase of the project saw six LED alley lights installed last December with an additional 41 more lights to be installed early next year.

“Forty-one more to come, they’ve been ordered and we’re just waiting for them to be delivered. as soon as they are delivered they will be installed. so we are anxiously awaiting,” says Myles.

“When you have to go into your alley to go to your garage at nighttime, it’s so good to know there’s going to be lighting for it to be much safer for people to go into their garages,” says Masse.

Masse believes the initiative is helping rejuvenate her neighbourhood.

“It is a little community of its own and we want to share it with everybody,” says Masse. “It’s such a hidden gem and I think what we’re doing with this initiative is great and it’s going to bring more people around.”