Good News

August 15, 2009

Couple planning Kingston cleanup

Gallery owners: Downtown needs work

Eric Marsico and his wife, Ariane, haven’t been running a business in Kingston for long, but they feel they’ve already found a way to give back to the community.

Noticing a proliferation of weeds and general need for maintenance around their custom-framing shop on Wyoming Avenue, the Marsicos are hoping to organize community volunteering and donation drives to clean up and improve the streetscape.

“There’s unrented businesses that are overgrown. When you walk down to get a cup of coffee you notice this; it’s disturbing,” he said. “Rather than ridicule people, we’re just trying to get some help to take care of it.”

He said they’ve volunteered for local community groups to plant trees, but the couple, who’ve had their Vgogh Gallery store for more than two years, wants to see a specific effort on the town’s main drag.

They’re trying to organize two weeks of cleanup projects all along Wyoming Avenue.

“If you drive up the Ave, you can see some communities that have let their main avenues go, and it’s not enticing,” he said. “As a whole, we’d like the whole block to look better.”

Marsico acknowledged that the suggestion has to be made delicately, lest someone take offense.

“We’re just looking for people to kind of recognize it because we’re not trying to insult the city. We’re not looking to get a bad name; we’re just looking for people to go out on cleanup days,” he said.

He said a variety of new stores are popping up in the area of Kingston Corners, through which he and his wife have been able to organize a group of like-minded storeowners to beautify the block.

“Everybody’s pretty receptive to it,” he said.

The couple is hoping to raise funds for more trash cans and benches on the sidewalks, along with bike racks. The municipality has agreed to collect trash from public refuse receptacles, Marsico said.

“I’m hoping that people just do it out of pride for the community,” he said.

To volunteer

Call Eric or Ariane Marsico at their shop, Vgogh Gallery, at 287-5544. The couple is hoping to organize cleanup projects between Monday and Aug. 29.

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