Concord City Councilor Organizes 'Opportunity Corridor' Cleanup Day

CONCORD, NH — Sometimes, in order to get things done, you just have to take on the task yourself.

That is what Ward 10 Concord City Councilor Jeff Foote and others are doing on Saturday, as they will meet for a few hours in the morning to clean up trash and debris from the city’s “opportunity corridor.” The opportunity corridor is a strip of land on the west side of Interstate 93 between Exit 13 and Exit 15 that has been targeted for redevelopment in the city for many years. Many commuters see the public and privately owned parcels as they drive along highway.

They also see the trash.

The city’s homeless population also frequents the parcels, trekking from camps around the city to the Friendly Kitchen on South Commercial Street.

Foote said, while driving to and from work in Bedford from East Concord, he thought about how unsightly the corridor looks from the highway and how it does not reflect the city.

“I just think seeing the trash is very uninviting,” he said. “On the side of the highway, there is quite a bit of litter. That was the impetus behind (the cleanup effort).”

So Foote started organizing. He said it was a good chance to get started with Earth Day festivities right around the corner on Tuesday. The teams of volunteers will tackle the cleanup from two sides of the corridor and meet in the middle.

Volunteers can contact him via email at jfoote@concordnh.gov or by text at 603-225-3256 to be assigned a specific area.

After being assigned an area, the volunteers will meet at the Rowley Agency parking lot at 45 Constitution Drive and the Common Man event parking area at 1 Gulf St. at 8:30 a.m. He hoped everyone would be done around 10 a.m.

Volunteers will receive trash grabbers, bags, and gloves . Participants were advised to wear bright clothing and durable shoes, such as work or hiking boots.

Concord police, he said, would be canvassing the corridor to ensure there were no needles or hazardous materials along the route.

Foote hoped as many as 30 people would get involved in the effort. He has commitments from more than half that amount, including three city councilors: Michele Horne of Ward 2, Stacey Brown of Ward 5, and Jim Schlosser of Ward 7.

Officials are also contacting homeless organizers to get them involved in the cleanup effort, he said.

Active clearing and cleaning of the area began about 12 years ago when the city bulldozed brush and posted no trespass and no camping signs on the corridor.

About four years ago, the manager of Brixmor, which owns the Capitol Shopping Center on Storrs Street, organized a successful clearing of the railroad tracks behind Market Basket.

Last year, the state contracted a New England Trauma Services hazmat team to clean up city and state parcels at Storrs Street and Sexton Avenue, in preparation for a land sale. The parcels have since been delisted. The city does not have any new ownership information posted about them.

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