MANAYUNK

By Megan Douress

Photography By Ian Sterling

When asked what he likes about Manayunk, life-long resident Gerry Killian responded, “It’s a nice, clean neighborhood.”

It’s an ironic answer, considering Gerry is part of Manayunk’s maintenance crew. Gerry, along with Torrey Hanes and Roy Harris, are the men you see sweeping our streets, removing trash and leaves, and cleaning up graffiti on a daily basis. At least one of them is out maintaining the streets every day, starting at 6:15 a.m. to ensure our neighborhood gets a good start to the day just like the rest of us. They cover Main Street from Leverington Avenue to Ridge Avenue, Cresson Street, and all side streets in between. They can also be found tidying up the Green Lane Bridge, the neighborhood’s various parking lots, and the towpath. They have part-time help, Barry Odyniec, who waters the rose bushes and does smaller projects from time to time. But keeping our neighborhood clean is a big job for such a small crew.

“It’s a good job to have,” said Gerry, who has been working with the Manayunk Development Corporation (MDC) for three years. “It’s not an excruciating job where it beats on you, but I get a lot of exercise from the hills.”

Torrey, a 15-year veteran with MDC, agreed.

“When you’re out on the street, you’re almost your own boss,” Torrey said. “Unless we get a phone call about something specific, we do our own thing.”

Torrey is referring to the flexibility of the job. They each have their own areas of the neighborhood for which they are responsible. While they do get their independent time, they’ll often spend it cleaning up each other’s areas, too.

The maintenance crew’s manager, MDC Director of Operations, Gwen McCauley, has a lot of trust in “the guys.” She does a weekly street check to make sure our district is looking its best.

“A supervisor from the Philadelphia Streets Department recently came into the neighborhood and told me our district is one of the cleanest in the city,” Gwen explained. “As long as the merchants are happy, I don’t feel like I have to constantly check in on them. With that said, we always appreciate feedback and would love to hear from our merchants and residents if they see an area that needs attention.”

While the district might be one of the cleanest in the city, the job certainly isn’t pretty, or at times, likeable—but someone has to do it. When asked what they don’t particularly love about the job, “parking in the morning,” “graffiti,” and “when people don’t clean up after their dogs on the towpath” were common answers. These days, they’re looking forward to the purchase and installation of new trash containers for the district—something they’ve been requesting for some time now. The crew believes individuals will do the right thing and dispose of trash if more containers are available.

Roy, who has been doing the “dirty work” for over seven years now admits that he, along with his crewmates, are often on patrol even when they’re off-duty.

“We’re protective of our street and our work,” Roy said proudly.

But with the bad comes the good. Another thing they can all admit is that it feels good to be recognized for all they do in our district.

“Without us, a lot of parts of the neighborhood wouldn’t be as nice,” Roy said of winning Manayunk Superhero. “A lot of people don’t clean up, but this feels great. I really feel appreciated.”

“People do recognize what we’re doing out here,” Torrey echoed. “It’s not often, but it’s nice when they do. Recently, it’s been happening since we won this award, but no one really says anything to us. But, they appreciate what we do, obviously.”

Gerry laughed when asked how it felt to be voted Manayunk Superhero.

“I’ve been cleaning up this neighborhood long before I worked here! I don’t view it as a superhero thing—I view it as doing my job,” he said.