Monday, August 27, 2012

THE MELA GOES (LIME) GREEN

Photo by Neher Siddique                                                                      

Two Kensington Community Board 12 members, Annie Ferdous (at the microphone) and Mamnunul Haq (on her left in the white, open-collared shirt), introduce the Kensington Plaza stewards to the mela audience at Sunday, August 26’s annual event on McDonald Avenue between Church Avenue and Avenue C. The stewards are wearing their distinctive—and coveted—lime-green vests.

The mela, sponsored  by the Church McDonald (Bangladeshi) Business Association (CMBBA), endorsed her message: If you enjoy the plaza, then please help keep it free of cigarette butts, cellophane wrappers, used paper cups, tea bags, and garbage. Deposit your trash in the garbage cans when you leave.

The cmbba saluted Ms. Ferdous and Mr. Haq for their dedication to the community by presenting them with an award. In her acknowledgement, Ms. Ferdous introduced the other Kensington Community Board 12 member, Maggie Tobin, as well as Bridget Elder, the Kensington Stewards’ co-chair (in black top, center), and a few of  the Kensington Plaza stewards: J.C. Martinez-Sifre, Abdul Karimi, Marie Coons, and Michael Kadish.

The difference between the Kensington Trash Mob and the Kensington Plaza stewards, she explained, is that the Trash Mob appears when summoned to pick up the trash along Church Avenue from Ocean Parkway to the Green Triangle at 36th Street and at the McDonald Avenue intersection, while the stewards clean the Plaza every day. Anyone can join them, she added.