GREELEY, Colo.—As Greeley’s downtown business district picks up, so does Clara Morrison.
She can be found tooling throughout Greeley’s downtown, picking up trash, debris and weeding the landscaping in a new effort at beautification.
Morrison takes her job seriously and takes pride in cleaning up after growing numbers of patrons to Greeley’s core. Born and raised in Greeley, she remembers the days when the least of the city’s worries were downtown shopping blues.
“It was a thriving place when I was a kid, and I just love seeing it come back,” said Morrison, now 55 and the Downtown Development Authority’s latest hire. She works part time.
Morrison has been on the job only for two weeks but already knows downtown patrons’ habits. She’ll spend Mondays and Tuesdays picking up debris left behind from weekend revelry. That leaves the rest of the week for the landscaping and weeding and taking care of the flowers the DDA has added in the last couple of summers.
This year alone, 15 new businesses have moved into downtown Greeley, tapping into a growing network of arts, entertainment and eclectic eateries. Such business promises to keep Morrison busy until the job ends in late September.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on it over the years, just watching, and it’s improved dramatically,” Morrison said. “If we do keep it clean, and make it inviting, I don’t see why” businesses can’t succeed.
“The economy has to recover sometime.”
Morrison spends 8 a.m.-1 p.m. each day traversing downtown in the district’s electric Gem car, originally purchased as a shuttle for downtown patrons. Every once in a while, she’ll make use of that function for the car, but she most often uses it to get through the blocks to clean up debris and weeds to keep downtown clean. Morrison also takes care of 97 planters.
“I personally really love to see downtown revitalized, and I think the DDA has got the right idea,” Morrison said. “If you go down there and it’s clean, you don’t notice it, but if it’s dirty, you do.”
DDA Chairman Bob Tointon, who will stop to pick up an errant wrapper or other debris as he walks downtown, came up with the idea of hiring the part-time help.
Bianca Fisher, DDA project coordinator, said she’s already heard good feedback from the work Morrison has done in the seasonal job that was created in June.
“Bob Tointon, our chair, he’ll pick up trash himself, and he said to me the other day, ‘I haven’t had to pick up nearly as much trash as before,’ ” Fisher said. “It’s pretty humbling when the board president is out there picking up trash.
“People have seen her out there, and that’s encouraging for businesses to see people actually out here” taking care of the grounds, Fisher said. “We just want to see downtown beautiful. It makes such a huge difference when someone walks down and sees a warm, welcome, clean environment.”
The job works out perfectly for Morrison, who loves being outdoors, loves the old architecture of downtown and particularly enjoys the exercise. She’s also doing a bit of scouting for a potential storefront of her own someday. Her husband makes guitars.
“I feel like it’s important,” Morrison said of her role. “I’m excited. While I love doing it, don’t ask me why for sure, I like being outside, I love making it look nice …
“It’s just nice to see that older part of town have a resurgence again,” she said. “It feels different to me, like there’s a real (momentum). I feel like it really has the backing, and people are so friendly. It’s starting to feel like a real community again, and I really like that.”
