Inauguration cleanup

Thursday, January 22, 2009

WASHINGTON — A momentous occasion leads to a monumental cleanup effort in our nation's capital, according to the Washington Post.

More than 90 tons of garbage have been hauled away from the inauguration site by city trash trucks with at least 40 more tons left to be disposed of, the story stated.

Dozens of volunteers with the U.S. Park Service spent all night Tuesday cleaning the National Mall and filling up countless garbage bags with refuse; the cleanup effort is expected to continue for days, the story noted.

Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, said: "People left behind a lot of trash. A lot of it was the vendors along the parade route, too. They left behind Obama hats, Obama bags [and] Obama socks."

Well over one million people were present for the inauguration of President Barack Obama and left googols of hand warmers, bottles, cans and various product wrappers behind on the ground for maintenance crews to clean up, the story added.