Do your share, keep downtown tidy | Smith

Take pride in your downtown. Please help the Kent Downtown Partnership keep downtown Kent free of graffiti and debris.

The Kent Downtown Partnership (KDP), being a good neighbor, removes graffiti in the historical district of downtown Kent. This is one of the benefits of being in the historical district. We do it for all our businesses, whether they are members of our organization are not. It is the right thing to do.

Many times when I am walking to and from my car or to meetings, I pick up litter. It is not uncommon for me to send our staff member, Roger, out to clean up a specific area of debris (from fast-food wrappers to discarded clothing). We usually have it removed within 24 hours or less. We do this because we are proud of our downtown and we want others to view it as a historical district that cares.

We would like to reach out to our businesses and to our residents and ask them to help us keep our downtown free from graffiti and debris. If you are a business owner in downtown Kent, take a look at your business with a different "set of eyes," from the perspective of a new customer. How would you feel about walking up to and into your business? Is your storefront clean, inviting and free of graffiti and debris? Is the back of your building clean and free of graffiti and debris?

Sometimes we forget about the impression the outside of our business gives, especially to a new potential customer.

If you have graffiti and are unable to remove it, please let the Kent Downtown Partnership know and we will help you to determine how to remove it. The KDP works directly with the city of Kent as one of the Adopt-a-Block participants to help remove graffiti, so we have most of the materials to do so.

Please help us make our downtown a destination that people feel good about visiting by helping us to keep it clean and free of graffiti and debris. Each one of us can make a big difference. Thank you.

– Barbara Smith, executive director, Kent Downtown Partnership, 253-813-6976, barbaras@kentdowntown.org

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