Volunteers to spruce up Smokey Point area Saturday

SMOKEY POINT — Volunteers are getting ready to clean up three spots around Smokey Point in hopes that a cleaner business area may draw shoppers and deter panhandlers and shoplifters.

The cleanup put together by local businesses is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Volunteers should check in at 9:30 a.m. in the Safeway parking lot. Work supplies such as gloves and garbage bags are provided, as is lunch.

The event will focus on three areas: the Safeway parking lot, around the neighboring 7-Eleven and in a nearby overgrown, wooded area known to have problems with homeless camps and drug crimes.

Business owners and customers have safety concerns related to messy areas in Smokey Point and the illegal activity that seems to go with them, said cleanup coordinator Jennifer Smith, with the Arlington-Marysville Retail Theft Group. For example, there’s a daycare near the wooded area and the owner worries about kids seeing things they shouldn’t.

“It becomes a real problem when it grows up too high, especially for the daycare, because it brings in the transient population,” Smith said. “I’ve been out there and I’ve seen the activity that goes on and from the child’s-eye view you can see the bad activity there.”

The area behind the 7-Eleven at some point turned into a dump for trash bags and other refuse, much to the manager’s dismay, Smith said. Small businesses often don’t have the resources to regularly clean persistent problem areas, which is why volunteers can make a big difference.

At all three locations, crews plan to cut back brush, clean up trash, spread new beauty bark and scrub and paint as needed.

“If we get a bunch more people, we could do more areas like other parking lots or a park,” Smith said.

Event organizers are hoping for 200 volunteers but would be thrilled to have more. People can email Smith at amorcwatch@gmail.com to get more information or register a group of volunteers.

People who live, work or shop in Smokey Point are fed up with the mess and with transients who ask for money, Smith said. It’s getting better as local businesses and police turn their attention to problem areas, but this cleanup day is a chance to attack the spots they haven’t been able to keep up with. It’s also a way to remind people that they can help solve the problems that worry them, Smith said.

“I’ve done loss prevention in the area and just saw the growing need and the growing concerns,” she said. “I’ve escorted elderly citizens from the store to their car because they didn’t want to walk alone. There was a period of time when you couldn’t get out of your car without someone coming up and asking you for money.”

The cleanup event ties in to a citywide campaign encouraging people to give others “a hand up, not a hand out,” Smith said. Officials want people to donate to local nonprofits, such as the Arlington Community Resource Center, rather than handing money directly to someone who asks for it on the street or in a parking lot.

The cleanup could become an annual event.

“I see it happening more than once,” Smith said. “People are already talking about wanting to do one in the north end. We’d love to get the community out there and work side by side with them.”

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Olivia Vanni / The Herald 
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mukilteo mayor vetoes council-approved sales tax

The tax would have helped pay for transportation infrastructure, but was also set to give Mukilteo the highest sales tax rate in the state.

South County Fire plans push-in ceremony for newest fire engine

Anybody who attends will have the opportunity to help push the engine into the station.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring gives the state of the city address at the Marysville Civic Center on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Marysville council approves interim middle housing law

The council passed the regulations to prevent a state model code from taking effect by default. It expects to approve final rules by October.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

‘Voter friendly’ election ballots set to go out for Snohomish County voters

Materials will include some changes to make the process easier to vote in Aug. 5 primary.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Kathy Johnson walks over a tree that has been unsuccessfully chainsawed along a CERCLA road n the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on Thursday, July 10, 2025 in Granite Falls, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How Roadless Rule repeal could affect forests like Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie

The Trump administration plans to roll back a 2001 rule protecting over 58 million acres of national forest, including areas in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie area.

Edmonds police officers investigate a shooting that occurred at 236/Edmonds Way Thursday in Edmonds, Washington. (Edmonds Police Department).
Jury convicts Edmonds man in fatal shooting of rideshare driver

After three hours, a 12-person jury convicted Alex Waggoner, 22, of second-degree murder for shooting Abdulkadir Shariif, 31, in January 2024.

Jake Goldstein-Street / Washington State Standard
Angelina Godoy, director of the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, speaks to reporters alongside advocates outside Boeing Field in Seattle on Tuesday.
Deportation flights at WA airport up dramatically this year, advocates say

Activists also say King County officials aren’t being transparent enough about the flights in and out of Boeing Field.

Smoke shrouds the hilltops as the Bolt Creek Fire burns through thick forest in 2022 on U.S. Highway 2 near Index. Members of the public can now view video feeds from artificial-intelligence-assisted cameras placed in 21 high-risk wildfire locations around Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Online feeds from WA’s wildfire detection cameras are now available

Members of the public can now view video feeds from artificial-intelligence-assisted cameras… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.