Organizers of a new community-based beautification effort hope to find volunteers to take over the job of keeping the Old St. Francis Hospital grounds mowed and trimmed.

City crews worked Friday and will finish Monday cleaning up the grounds to give the group a good start.

"It looked like a jungle when we got here. We've made a bit of a dent, but it will take a while to finish," Mike Crutcher, with the city's street department, said Friday morning.

When crews arrived Friday, they faced waist-high grass and weeds. The city brought in heavy equipment, including a brush hog and chain saws, to begin cleaning up the location.

City Councilman Melvin Gateley, wielding a rake on Friday, explained that the hospital cleanup provided a good kickoff for the new Invest in Cape Girardeau beautification project, unveiled earlier this month.

Gateley and Councilman Doug Richards devised a plan to beautify much of the city's east side utilizing volunteer labor.

The entire project area divided into four sections extends west from the Mississippi River to Sprigg Street and is bordered by Hackberry Street to the south and Roberts Street to the north.

"Teams" are being created in each of the four group areas.

Gateley said: "A week ago Thursday, teams from Invest in Cape did an inventory of this zone, which runs south to Hackberry, west to Pacific, east to the river and north to William. We felt this was a good place to start."

A nucleus of citizens in that part of the city has already started clean-up activities, including a recent beautification project at Happy Hollow.

"The city will get it all done one time," Gateley said, concerning the former hospital grounds. He added that the city has equipment that makes the cleanup much easier and faster.

"Then it will be a project of that committee, assisted by the Vision 2000, and we hope to get a sponsor to adopt this spot," Gateley said.

"We just felt that it was an eyesore for the community. It wasn't fair to the residents in this area and (the cleanup) was good for the entire community."

Doug Kaminskey, public works director, said employees from the park department, the street division, the storm water division and the sewer division are working on the project. He said 8-10 employees are working on the project.

Kaminskey had no cost estimate for the cleanup, but added that the city has cleaned up the property at least once a year for the past several years.

"We'll probably be tax billing the costs back to the owner," he said.

"It should look nice once we get through with it. There may be a volunteer group that will try to keep it clean from here on out," Kaminskey said.