‘We won’t rest.’ A father’s dream to clean up Macon community becomes county effort

Antonio Williams, of Pleasant Hill, wanted to organize a neighborhood cleanup because he was tired of his 7-year-old son seeing trash piles and litter from illegal dumping.

“I want him to see what I saw growing up as a 7-year-old in Pleasant Hill, the pride that I felt and the connection, and I want to share that with other generations because they don’t see that,” he said.

Williams planned to schedule the cleanup with Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but he never expected it to become an initiative covering the entire county.

Mayor Lester Miller, Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful and other county departments and agencies announced Friday in the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood an initiative called Macon Matters, a data-driven focus on neighborhood cleanups across the county.

“A lot of people made sacrifices to establish this community,” Williams said. “We need everybody to be accountable and take ownership in this community, and hopefully that’ll lead to them taking an active role in the revitalization.”

Williams reached out to Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful to organize a community cleanup in Pleasant Hill, and he said it just happened to coincide with the community initiative to clean up the streets of the entire county.

Miller said during the press conference that they have identified around 100 sites at which the county plans to organize cleanups with the help of community partnerships and volunteers, but he said they need the public’s help to identify more areas that need attention.

“We have to get Macon pride back, and this is the first step in that action,” Miller said. “We want to make sure we reach every part of Macon-Bibb County from corner to corner from zip code to zip code and make sure that we tell people enough is enough.”

People can report dump sites or areas that need to be cleaned up at www.maconbibb.us/seeclickfix.

At locations that are frequently used for illegal dumping, Miller said the county is going to work to get cameras installed.

Sheriff David Davis said he is glad to partner with the county and Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful to ensure the perpetrators of illegal dumping are charged for the crime.

“I’ve long said that blighted conditions create blighted minds which create blighted actions,” Davis said. “It shows that we care. It shows these neighborhoods that we are going to be watching. It shows these neighborhoods that they are not forgotten, and that they don’t need to continue to be in despair.”

Williams said he hopes to have monthly cleanups in Pleasant Hill in order to stay visible and vigilant.

“We won’t rest until our neighborhood is how we want to envision it,” Williams said, and he added that after the neighborhood is restored, he will continue working to maintain its vibrancy.

“The narrative seem to be based on people’s perception and what they visually see and Pleasant Hill ain’t what it appears currently. Pleasant Hill has so much more to offer.”