Kids pick up some KOINS with the trash

Friday, Sept. 14, 2001 | 4:57 a.m.

Weekend edition

In an effort to clean up vacant lots in North Las Vegas riddled with litter and graffiti, city departments created a new source of manpower: youth who are eager to improve their neighborhoods while earning a few dollars.

Fifty boys and girls, ages 11-15, began an eight-week cleanup effort last Saturday that is part of a neighborhood improvement program called KOINS (Kids Organized to Improve Neighborhood Streets).

By paying each child $15 every Saturday for five hours of cleanup work, the program teaches the responsibility of a first job while inspiring youths to take pride in their neighborhoods, Charlotte Salyer, crime prevention division manager for North Las Vegas Police, said.

Salyer initiated the program, which is in its first year, after attending an FBI symposium that presented a direct correlation between high-crime areas and blighted neighborhoods.

Participating youth must have a grade point average of at least 3.0. In addition to being paid, the children receive a certificate of appreciation for their efforts.

Fourteen-year-old Ashley Turner, who participated with friends in KOINS' first cleanup this spring, said the Saturday cleanups were tiring, but worth the effort because of the improvement it made to the neighborhoods.

Paying the children to participate was part of the plan from the beginning, Salyer said.

"We wanted to do (the program) in a way that rewards (the children)," Salyer said. "We tried to give them an incentive for being involved."

KOINS is funded by a $14,000 grant from the Nevada Juvenile Justice Commission in conjunction with the Division of Child and Family Services. The program will begin its second year in March if the grant is renewed, Salyer said.

The program is a partnership between the North Las Vegas Department of Detention/Corrections, the North Las Vegas Code Enforcement Division and the police department's Crime Prevention Division.

North Las Vegas Code Enforcement Division identifies locations that are in need of cleanup. The corrections department buses children to the location and provides them with lunch. The Crime Prevention Division oversees the cleanup.

"We're looking at properties that are continual problems, whether it's trash, weeds or debris," Sheldon Klain, code enforcement manager, said. "These are highly visible areas as you enter or leave the city."

Normally the lots are cleaned by the city's Public Works Department or by the private citizens who own the property, Klain said. The KOINS program provides extra manpower.

The children meet at 8 a.m. each Saturday at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas on East Carey Avenue. They paint over graffiti, pick up trash and, last spring, had abandoned vehicles towed away, Salyer said. Residents were appreciative of the effort, she said.

Earlier this year children cleaned up lots in such areas as Coolidge and Roosevelt streets, Belmont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard North.

"It's a good work experience because we worked hard trying to clean up the neighborhood and make it better for everyone else," said 14-year-old William Stirgus, who participated in the program earlier this year.

"The older residents liked to see us clean everything up because they couldn't get out and clean it themselves."