Litter Warriors - Dillon Lowe

Litter warriors

How a local grassroots organization is working to improve Baton Rouge’s economic future by tackling trash.

STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY DILLON LOWE

FIREARMS. BAGS OF ammunition. Hundreds upon hundreds of used needles.

These are just a few of the more concerning items that have been recovered from the streets of Baton Rouge by the “litter warriors” of Keep Tiger Town Beautiful, a local group of activists that hosts community cleanups each day with a shared goal of creating a trash-free Capital City.

The grassroots organization was launched in January 2021 by Jennifer Richardson, a local real

estate agent who was appalled by the conditions of an overgrown median on Essen Lane that harbored an exorbitant amount of litter— beer cans, cigarette butts, water bottles and the like. Because she felt the city was not doing enough to combat the proliferation of trash on its streets, she resolved to take matters into her own hands, and, soon after, the Keep Tiger Town Beautiful Facebook group was born.

What began as a relatively small group of concerned residents has since exploded, with more than 5,300 Facebook members and a dedicated team of roughly 100 volunteers.

“People came out from all walks of life,” Richardson says, recalling the first cleanup she organized. “Every race, every religion, every

TAKE IT ON: When real estate agent Jennifer Richardson felt the city was not doing enough to combat the proliferation of trash on its streets, she resolved to take matters into her own hands. That’s when she started Keep Tiger Town Beautiful.

political affiliation. As a community, we all came together for one thing, and we all got along. After it was over with, we became fast friends, and now we’ve been doing it for almost three years.”

To date, the group has set up 150 public trash cans throughout Baton Rouge, cleaned out hundreds of clogged drains, and filled roughly 13,200 contractor-sized trash bags of litter. While a portion of the garbage recovered by Richardson and her team comes from “disrespectful” drivers and pedestrians, she says that the majority of what they retrieve is linked to the city’s homeless population—which appears to be growing.. On a single night in January 2023, the Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care in its point in time census counted

435 self-identifying homeless people in Baton Rouge.

Michael Acaldo, president and CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Greater Baton Rouge, has witnessed that growth firsthand. In 2022, his organization’s four emergency shelters provided approximately 26,000 guest nights of service. This year, he expects that total to surpass 30,000, driven largely by the drying up of COVIDera assistance resources and an increase in the cost of living.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Acaldo says. “The numbers are greatly increasing.”

Indeed, some of Keep Tiger Town Beautiful’s most daunting projects have involved clearing out abandoned homeless encampments and sprawling “drug hubs.” And as a real estate agent, Richardson says she has witnessed how these problems are affecting the city’s economic future.

“When people are thinking about moving to Baton Rouge or

accepting jobs here, they want to know why we live in such filth,” she says. “I lose buyers. I lose people who are going to open up a business here and employ people here. It’s just terrible.”

THE BUSINESS IMPACT

While it is safe to say that many in Baton Rouge are upset with the current state of litter and homelessness in the city, the challenges that these issues present to local businesses are often overlooked.

One such affected business is Clegg’s Nursery on Siegen Lane. Beneath a bridge that runs over a canal behind the business, Keep Tiger Town Beautiful volunteers discovered an encampment that contained, among other things, stolen merchandise from the garden center.

Butch Drewes, the nursery’s manager, was not aware of the encampment until Richardson and her team brought it to his attention. Shortly thereafter, the group

IT’S A COLLABORATION: A pair of Keep Tiger Town Beautiful volunteers tote a heavy bag of garbage along Siegen Lane near Airline Highway.

AMONG THE TRASH

Photographs from the Keep Tiger Town Beautiful team document some of the discarded items and abandoned encampments discovered during cleanup outings. Found items include guns, hypodermic needles, cellphones and trash-filled shopping carts.

“Ever since they came in and cleaned it out, we haven’t had any more issues,” Drewes says. “I can’t sing their praises enough. They’ve made a difference in Baton Rouge, and they’re just a total and complete benefit to businesses along Siegen Lane.”

Another local business, Drivin’ Ms. Daizey’s Drivin’ Academy, has

faced similar challenges—so much so that it opted to relocate from its original location on Sherwood Forest Boulevard. According to Dana Helmes, the driving academy’s owner, a sizable homeless encampment behind the business’s original building became too great a burden to bear.

“Every day when we pulled up they were walking back and forth in our parking lot, and every day they

would leave their trash and shopping carts everywhere,” Helmes says. “There was litter everywhere. They just throw it down and walk on by.”

The encampment’s occupants were also plugging into the driving academy’s outdoor power sources to charge their electronics, Helmes says, as well as panhandling from employees and customers on a daily basis, prompting safety concerns.

“I have children and women who

work here,” Helmes says, “so now we’ve had to find another place to have the business.”

Though some local businesses may continue to face issues with litter for the foreseeable future, Richardson believes her group’s work has already made an impact by showing local business owners that proactive community engagement can and will bring about positive change.

“When people are thinking about moving to Baton Rouge or accepting jobs here, they want to know why we live in such filth. I lose buyers. I lose people who are going to open up a business here and employ people here. It’s just terrible.”

JENNIFER RICHARDSON, founder, Keep Tiger Town Beautiful

“When people look at us picking up litter, they see how much better the area looks in a matter of seconds,” Richardson says. “This isn’t something that takes very long to accomplish. We’ve motivated people. When one business looks good, it makes the one next door look terrible, and it inspires them to clean up.”

Though city officials launched the litter initiative Brighten Up Baton Rouge in October 2022, the long-term efficacy of that initiative remains to be seen, and Richardson says the city still needs to do more to address the root causes of the

problem and foster sustainable solutions for a cleaner, more livable environment.

Meanwhile, Keep Tiger Town Beautiful’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. In October, the organization was honored with a Community Impact Award by Keep Louisiana Beautiful, a statewide program focused on education, beautification and litter removal.

“We’re doing everything we can think of to make a difference,” Richardson says. “So many people have lost pride in the city they grew up in. We want to have pride in our city again.”

Melissa O’Banion VP, Marketing & Communications

TAKE IT AWAY: A volunteer drags away an abandoned item near a gas station on Siegen Lane.