"80 different organizations came out to participate in the neighborhoods to pick up, clean up, and make things different," said Mayor Eddie DeLoach.
It’s all an effort to keep the community clean. Volunteers said they were happy to come out and help.
"Savannah is a beautiful city, we love helping out and contributing to this great city that we live in," said Michelle Pearce.
"I love Savannah, it’s a beautiful city, it doesn’t need this trash in the area," said Victoria Glowacz.
Trash was picked up all over the city, and there was a lot of it.
"Ton of trash, just an immense amount," said Pearce.
"I’ve never seen such litter bugs in my life," said Glowacz.
The Mayor said the city needs the community’s help to keep trash off the ground.
"Help us take care of Savannah," said DeLoach.
The city passed the Clean Community Ordinance at city council on Thursday. It allows law enforcement to crack down on litterbugs and give out citations.
"We also want people to know that we’re serious about enforcing the litter ordinance in our city," said Savannah Police Chief Roy Minter.
City officials said if an officer sees someone littering, that officer will use his or her judgment and issue a citation if someone is caught littering. Minimum fines are $50 for a first offense, $75 for second offense, and $150 for third offense.
"We’re going to continue to focus on gangs, guns, and drugs, but we’re also going to focus on those quality-of-life issues such as littering," said Minter.
Flau’jae, a Savannah native who was a contestant on America’s Got Talent, is the face of this effort to cut down on litter.
She wrote a rap to remind people to keep Savannah clean.
She ended it by saying, "It’s so easy to go put it in a basket, this is my home don’t trash it."
With the streets cleaner after Saturday's litter pickup, city officials will be enforcing the new litter ordinance to keep it that way.
by Katie Filling
Saturday, March 2nd 2019