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Man's DIY canal-cleaning project continues with help Thursday

3 years 4 months 1 week ago Thursday, May 27 2021 May 27, 2021 May 27, 2021 6:05 PM May 27, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - It's nice to have some help from your friends and that's what one man got after taking it upon himself to deal with clogged canals in Baton Rouge.

The City-Parish is even stepping in after the 2 On Your Side story first aired on Monday. People even called, wanting to help.

Stanley Livingston was back out in Dawson Creek again Thursday, cutting down and hauling trees. He had some help from Matt Thomas of TULIPA. The two worked to cut down the remaining trees and started tackling a large mulberry tree that started this whole project.

"I got quite a few people who wanted to help and actually donate money," Livingston said.

He's been spending hours at a time tackling a portion of Dawson Creek along S. Acadian Thruway behind his house to the interstate. Livingston has worked to clear more than 200 trees and take them to the curb.

The city-parish saw the story earlier this week and has been out there twice so far to collect that debris. Another pile is already growing to be collected Friday.

"This is the third pile we're taking out of Dawson Creek and hopefully it'll be the last," he said.

Livingston hopes it'll help him and his neighbors with their flooding concerns since homes on Honeysuckle Avenue tend to flood often. But the work downstream is far from over.

"As bad as it was growing up here at my house... I walked the whole canal from College to here, and there's something like 800 trees," said Livingston.

The city-parish was out in Dawson Creek earlier this week taking out one tree. But, as Livingston says, there is a lot more to do.

Livingston is also concerned about an obstruction he recently found in Dawson Creek between Staring Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard. There's a footbridge behind the Little Caesar's Pizza off Perkins Road that has collapsed and fallen into the canal. The city-parish tells 2 On Your Side it is now aware of the collapse, and the Department of Maintenance is going to take the steps to remove that bridge from the creek area.

"And that would really help out our neighborhood and all the neighbors that are adjacent to Dawson Creek," he said.

The city-parish told Livingston that they appreciate his work. They will be going by soon to pick up that last pile of debris.

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