September 18, 2019
By Les Conklin
President, GPPA/Friends of the Scenic Drive
Thank You Scottsdale Adopt-A-Road Program!
Judy and I thank the City of Scottsdale and Scottsdale’s Adopt-A-Road Program for a wonderful dinner and surprising award on Thursday, September 5th. It’s not every day that you receive a Scottsdale street sign with your name on it. Now we just have to figure out how to add a few hundred more names to the Conklin Way sign (more later).
Councilwoman Klapp, Sonnie Kirtley, Les Conklin, Councilwoman Littlefield, Mayor Lane. Courtesy Scottsdale Adopt-A-Road Program.
Adopt-A-Road Coordinator’s Dinner
The enjoyable event that Judy and I attended was Scottsdale’s Adopt-A-Road Coordinator’s Dinner. According to the city’s website, “more than 190 volunteer groups work to keep Scottsdale roadsides clean and litter-free. These volunteer efforts help protect and highlight Scottsdale’s natural beauty while saving taxpayer money.” Each volunteer group has a coordinator who works directly with the city to organize and report on the success of each cleanup. Bruce Wall, who coordinates the entire Adopt-A-Road program for the City of Scottsdale, served as MC during the awards program, with a big assist from Mayor Lane.
Sonny Kirtley and I received awards as the only two coordinators who have been volunteering since the start of Scottsdale’s Adopt-A-Road Program in 1996. To be clear, you will not be seeing the signs that we received on any corner. In addition to our names, the signs indicate “Scottsdale Adopt-A-Road Program” and “Keeping Scottsdale Clean & Scenic Since 1996.”
Awards were also presented to Adopt-A-Road coordinators who reported funny or unusual roadside items that have been found over the years, coordinators who have volunteered from five to nine years, and coordinators who have volunteered for ten years or more.
Thank You Volunteers & Supporters
As Mayor Lane presented the Conklin Way sign, I though of the hundreds of volunteers who have pitched in and helped with the Friends of the Scenic Drive cleanups. Friends, with the support of the Scottsdale Pride Commission, launched its litter cleanups along the Scenic Drive in December 1994. Later, in 1996, Friends became a founding group of Scottsdale’s Adopt-A-Road Program.
Volunteers who have been coordinators for more than 10 years: L-R: T.J. Weirich, Liz Weirich, Councilwoman Klapp, Sonnie Kirtley, Ralph Rossborough, Les Conklin, Councilwoman Littlefield, Brian Massrock, Mayor Lane. Courtesy Scottsdale Adopt-A-Road Program.
I also thought of the local businesses that have supported our cleanups. These have included Rawhide, which donated containers of hot coffee and breakfast rolls in the early years. Outback Steakhouse supported Scenic Drive enhancement celebrations, which usually included a drive cleanup, by providing a steak buffet for volunteers. More recently Cavahlo’s donated buffet breakfasts for cleanup volunteers. Other businesses continue to support GPPA’s Scenic Drive efforts with donations and by purchasing advertising in A Peek at the Peak magazine, which is published by GPPA-Friends of the Scenic Drive.
Idea Needed!
I’m not going to list the names of all the people and organizations that have helped. I’ve forgotten some names and I’ll surely leave someone off the list. Know that the list contains many folks who are known for their outstanding and unselfish contributions to our natural environment and community. It will be “difficult” to put all their names I would like to include on the Conklin Way sign. Perhaps, it would be more appropriate to place names on tags on the drive’s plant identification signs along the drive. Any ideas?
De-littering Roadsides Is Important
As I thought about writing this article, I recalled an entertaining piece that is posted in the Scenic Drive section of this website. I think anyone who has picked up litter or supported the effort will enjoy this 1963 letter to the then editor of the Black Mountain News, Corki Cockburn. Cockburn was also a driving force in the original establishment of the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive in 1963 along Cave Creek Road and Scottsdale Road, both segments of which were under the jurisdiction of Maricopa County at the time.
Volunteers who have been coordinators for 5-9 years: L-R: Councilwoman Suzanne Klapp, Sylvia Farley, Debra Atkinson, Marlene Wallace, Thom Malone, Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield, Mayor Lane. Courtesy Scottsdale Adopt-A-Road Program.
March 22, 1962 Letter to Editor Complains About Litter
“Most everyone agrees that this is a beautiful spot on the map around Phoenix. For ten years now, every time I go or come from Phoenix, I get a pain in the sacroiliac looking from the beautiful blue skyline down to the depressing sight of the roadway. However, the pain was never so acute as last week when I spend the greater part of the day cleaning up along the roadside.
“The driver of one car stopped and asked, “are you living out here?”. Upon informing him so, he said, ”Is anybody else cleaning up the roadside? Do you people know this is a beautiful spot – except that road. It is the trashiest, most rubbish-strewn road I’ve ever seen in my long life. What is the matter with people out here? Don’t they realize that the road reflects on them? What do the people believe one thinks when one goes on a road like this one …?”
“A well-pointed question: Indeed for the non-inured, this road is a pain in the eye.
Let’s put our best foot forward. Let’s powder the nose even if the neck goes unwashed. Let’s do something about it besides talking. Yes, let’s stoop some to straighten this up. Let’s not wait till some foreign country sends a Peace Corps to do it.
“I am crossing my fingers and praying.
C.F. Brenner, Cave Creek.
Black Mountain News Editorial Note. Thanks and amen.”
A Tradition Kept Alive
Evidently this letter had an impact, because in 1964 after the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive was established, Cave Creek Improvement Association volunteers began regular litter pickups along the original Scenic Drive, which included the northern reaches of both Scottsdale Road and Cave Creek Road. In the late 1970s, annexation discussions and the resulting annexation of the northern section of Cave Creek Road into Phoenix and the northern part of Scottsdale Road into Scottsdale, had a negative impact on the maintenance of the Scenic Drive and the regular litter pickup program. When Friends of the Scenic Drive, with the support of the Scottsdale’s Pride Commission, did it’s first cleanup in 1994, it was re-starting an old Scenic Drive tradition. Hopefully, a tradition that will continue as time passes.
Invitation to Help De-litter Scenic Drive
“Divine Desert Drive” by Chad Weaver, Carefree – Winner Scenic Drive Category, 2015 Summer Fun Photo Contest
Picking up litter is more enjoyable than you would expect, and there will be at least 13 miles of roadside (6 1/2 miles on each side) that will look terrific. New volunteers are welcome.
Pitch-in with 20-40 other Friends of the Scenic Drive volunteers. Friends mans two sign-in locations: #1. northern Scenic Drive entry sign (located on the west side of Scottsdale Road south of Carefree Highway, immediately south of Terravita Marketplace and the entry road to Walgreens), #2. Scenic Drive monument sign area (located on east side of Scottsdale Road 3/4 mile north of Happy Valley Road, 1/4 mile south of Jomax Road, across from MacDonald’s Ranch).
Safety vests, pickup “sticks,” and plastic trash bags will be provided. Complimentary donuts and water are available. Gloves and long pants recommended. When you sign-in you will be assigned a specific roadside area to cover.
Our next cleanup is Saturday, October 26th. Detailed information, including optional advance registration, will be published in The Peak by September 26th. For information about the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, click on Scenic Drive tab or call (480) 361-6498.
About Friends of the Scenic Drive
A corps of volunteers, within the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association, that works to preserve and enhance the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive, an area landmark since 1963. Friends conducts regular litter pickup programs, and maintains Scenic Drive plant exhibits and monuments. Friends, founded in 1994 in north Scottsdale, is a division of GPPA. You’ll find more information in the Scenic Drive section of this website.
About the Greater Pinnacle Peak Association
Founded in the Pinnacle Peak area of Scottsdale, Arizona in 1977, is a 501 c(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment and the enhancement of quality of life in the North Scottsdale Sonoran Desert. We support Scottsdale’s Scenic Drive, desert preservation, wildlife conservation, the arts, education, responsible development, and community service through our publications, initiatives, student grants, and by assisting local nonprofits. GPPA receives no State or Federal funding.
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