By Morgan Bryce
Staff Reporter
Next month, Jeter residents will have the opportunity to compete against each other in creating and maintaining award-winning yards through the Jeter Yard of the Month Clean-Up Initiative.
An effort led by Ward 2 Councilwoman Tiffany Gibson-Pitts, Keep Opelika Beautiful and Home Depot manager Melinda Robinson, the program is designed to beautify the ward and eliminate the area’s unkempt yards.
“When I first got into the position, we were still having issues with paper in yards, or people not cutting their grass, but we’re working on changing that. (Through this initiative) I just wanted to provide some type of incentive for the people to clean up the area … to clean up their yards, give it a nicer curb appeal, which is my goal,” Gibson-Pitts said.
Keep Opelika Beautiful Director Tipi Miller said her organization will provide judges for the year-round program, with winners receiving $50 Home Depot vouchers.
“We (KOB) do a quarterly yard of the quarter award, and we award that to a yard in every ward. We’ll probably use the same criteria from that program,” Miller said. “We look to see that the shrubs are maintained, grass is manicured, and that there is a variety of flowers (and plants). We’re looking for creativity, but we’re also looking for overall general yard maintenance.”
Pitts said she plans to announce further details about the program Friday morning as a guest on Richard LaGrand’s morning show on Hallelujah 910 AM.