fter years of helping to clean up the Island, Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) is getting a make-over of its own, with new leadership, new community projects, education campaigns and neighbourhood clean-ups.Earlier this month, Rich Lathan, a former community beat Police officer, took over from Susan Harvey as executive director of the KBB.

"Essentially, the director prior to Susan Harvey was non-functioning," said Mr. Lathan. "Susan stepped in and said she would give it a year to see what she could do to bring the profile back up. Susan has resurrected this organisation from the dead."

Mr. Lathan became involved with the KBB when the community beat office worked with KBB to clean up Cambridge Road in Somerset.

"Cambridge Road was an area where gangs hung out and controlled," said Mr. Lathan. "It was dirty. Susan came along and said she wanted to do a KBB thing there. I thought that was brilliant and the community beat office went in and joined her."

The community beat office was interested in the clean-up because research has shown that keeping a neighbourhood physically clean is one of the first steps to making it a safe place to live.

"When you clean an area people begin to take pride in it," Mr. Lathan said. "They now have an investment in it in terms of time and energy.

"When you clean an area you are working with someone so you form a bond."

The KBB removed old cars, boats and trash from the Cambridge Road area. Later, a bulldozer took out all non-endemic foliage and created an area of open space that is now being used as a paddock and play area for the neighbourhood.

"The main thing is it is not being used by the gangs to conceal any nefarious doings," Mr. Lathan said.

"That is how I got involved with the KBB."

Mr. Lathan left the Bermuda Police Service on March 31 and took on a full-time position at the KBB on June 1.

As the new executive director he hopes to foster more neighbourhood clean-up projects like the one on Cambridge Road.

An Island-wide clean-up was planned for last month, but unfortunately, was rained out.

The next big clean-up for this month is planned for the Jews Bay area, and there will be an Island-wide coastal clean-up in October.

The KBB also arranged for the Bermuda Regiment to clean up Cochran Road in Somerset, and sent a Hamilton Parish youth soccer team to tackle Coney Island and Shelly Bay Park in Hamilton Parish. Jews Bay is the main area for the month of June.

Mr. Lathan said he is very excited about his new job, and can't wait to get his hands dirty, literally.

"I have a not-quite obsessive personality, but once I start something I am very into it," he said. "Sometimes I am at the KBB office before 8.30 a.m. and leave there after 6 p.m., because there are so many interesting things to be done, and so much of a challenge. It has been especially great taking over from Susan and learning what she has done. She has done quite a bit to get the organisation back on its feet."

The KBB offices are located on Princess Street in the city of Hamilton, an area well-known to Mr. Lathan.

"Princess Street is a great place to be," he said. "In my youth I grew up in that neighbourhood. I am from the east end of the island, but my grandparents were from Hamilton. As Hamilton expands it will be a place where litter issues will need to be considered, so it is a good place to be."

An important part of his job will be increasing community awareness about Bermuda's litter problem and building up KBB membership again. The organisation plans to launch a new advertising campaign, and also an education programme in the schools.

"We were once very strong in the schools," said Mr. Lathan. "It is effective when you get children motivated and involved, so the plan is to put a lot of focus in this regard.

I am building a hands-on learning model to take into the schools. The kids will get a look at a small model, be able to manipulate it and use it and derive some messages out of that."

The KBB also hopes to get more involvement on the corporate level. Recently, The Argus Group led the way by adopting two Bermuda parks to care for and maintain, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Park in Southampton and Lighthouse Park in St. David's.

Mr. Lathan said other corporations are already following suit.

"It will be good if we can get people at the corporate level to buy in," said Mr. Lathan. "Individuals are also interested. I had a family contact me last week because their daughter needed to do some community hours. In the end they decided to adopt an area in their neighbourhood to maintain."

He said individuals interested in helping out the KBB are always welcome to telephone or e-mail to find out about upcoming events.

"The power of one is really important," he said. "One person can go out and encourage others."

Mr. Lathan is keen to get volunteers to help at other levels of the organisation, beyond just picking up trash.

"I had a young man come in this week who is interested in helping out the KBB and he is good with computers," said Mr. Lathan. "We have three young guys who have been involved in every clean-up I have been in the last three years. They are really dedicated young men. I am looking to slide them in as team leaders. They are the kind of kids who have a really good feel for what needs to be done. So we want to try to diversify what our volunteers do, so it is not just clean-up."

Mr. Lathan urged the ordinary concerned citizen to start with their own neighbourhood.

"I live at Scaur Hill, and a month or two ago we went out and did a pick-up in our neighbourhood," he said. "This allowed us to strengthen our relationship as neighbours. It allows you to say to your neighbours, 'did you see the trash at the gate, let's go and clean-it up together'."

He said taking part in a clean-up isn't an adrenaline kind of thrill, but it has its own rewards.

"It is certainly exciting," he said. "You go into an area that looks really bad. You start to clean-it up and all the sudden bang! you've made it something. It is a really nice feeling. The good thing about that is it is not the kind of reward that is materialistic."

One of the problems that the KBB plans to tackle is illegal dumping, often on park lands or secluded wooded areas.

"We are looking at different sites around the island," said Mr. Lathan. "We will also be looking at the need to strengthen legislation about illegal dumping. When I was a police officer there were several incidents of illegal dumping of a serious nature, but we do not have the vehicle to get a solid prosecution. So often it will be left to grumbling and complaining and making it known and then cleaning it up ourselves. So hopefully we can get more legislation in place to address this issue. Bermuda is a small island and certainly those are the challenges that we have. As we become more consumer oriented what will we do with the waste? We need to look at our capacity to deal with it."

He said an example of a problem area in terms of illegal dumping is Lagoon Park in Somerset. The KBB is currently working with the West End Development Corporation (Wedco) to come up with some remedies for this.

"I don't think it is a lot of people," he said. "I think it is one or two truckers doing illegal dumping. Trash is one thing but when you see people dumping sinks and toilet bowls. I have pictures from the Railway Trail in Southampton near the Rocklands Estate. Someone in a truck dumped four washers, six dryers and a refrigerator and a small freezer. They basically pulled the truck up and dumped them. They were all intact."

The KBB is currently looking for volunteers to assist with a KBB clean-up in the Jews Bay area on June 23 from 9 a.m. to midday. The KBB has gloves on hand, but people are welcome to bring their own equipment. People are also needed to help with 'Unity in the Community' a Corporation of St. George's clean-up in the east end planned for June 30 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. . For more information Anna Perry-Smith at 504-8385 or email periwinkle[AT]northrock.bm .

The Corporation is happy to receive donations of supplies such as trash bags, disposable gloves and bottle water. Volunteers are also needed to help with coordination of the event.

For more information about KBB projects and events telephone the KBB at 295-5142 or email kbb[AT]northrock.bm.

KBB gets a makeover of its own