Longview, TX — Keep Longview Beautiful conducted the Community Appearance Index on August 6, a tool designed by Keep America Beautiful to visually assess the overall appearance of communities through indicators such as litter, illegal signs, graffiti, abandoned/junk vehicles and outside storage. A team of community, business and government representatives conducted the visual analysis using a scoring system ranging from 1-4, with “1” being the best to “4” being the worst. The 2012 Litter Index score for Longview is rated 1.36 which is down from last year’s 1.58 score.

“The Community Appearance Index is designed to gather data annually and the results are used to develop a local plan to change attitudes and behaviors regarding litter and related community improvement issues. The Index helps direct the local education and litter prevention, beautification, and waste reduction and recycling programs. Keep America Beautiful uses the information to identify national trends regarding community improvement issues,” states Keep America Beautiful President & CEO Matthew McKenna.

“Involving community representatives in the process is important to achieve partnership solutions, Kim Droege says. Longview is a passionate community that takes responsibility, ownership and pride in our town. The decrease in the Litter Appearance Index for 2012 shows that our citizens are accountable for improving their environment through litter prevention, beautification and waste reduction.”

Keep Longview Beautiful Mission

Keep Longview Beautiful will educate and engage our community to take responsibility for improving their environment through litter prevention, beautification and waste reduction.

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community's environment. To learn more, visit www.kab.org.