Half a dozen rakes scraped along the dirt where Aqueduct Walk meets Fordham Road, last Saturday. Their spindles, leaving in their wake manicured soil, dragged paper, glass, and other odd bits of trash to piles where the garbage would eventually be bagged.

The people wielding the rakes were volunteers for Columbia Community Outreach Day, Columbia University’s annual community service event.

The students and alumni cleared away garbage from the site, and scattered wildflower seeds, in the hopes of bringing a new look to the narrow, winding park. Columbia volunteers came to the same stretch of parkland last year on Outreach Day, but instead of raking away litter and planting seeds, “last year was more about moving large debris,” said Project Manager Richard Garey.

Among the items found by the volunteers were hypodermic needles, as well as a plethora of bottles, cans, and assorted mess.

Monica Nania, a Morningside Heights resident who was visiting the Bronx for the first time, sees potential in Aqueduct Walk. “If the community takes care of it, plants flowers, and cleans it up, it could be very nice,” said Nania.

Garey, a Columbia alum who was raised in the west Bronx, says that while the condition of Aqueduct Park has improved since his childhood, much of its potential beauty is unrealized due to its lingering trash problem.

“This park, in some ways, makes or breaks the neighborhood,” said Garey, explaining that, if beautified, the park might become a main thoroughfare for walkers who might not feel comfortable there now.

Garey feels that the owners of the buildings next to the park should be responsible for the trash that piles up behind their lots. The landlords of properties bordering the park between 188th Street and Fordham Road, where the volunteers were cleaning, could not be reached for comment by press time.

As for what he expects the community service project to accomplish, Garey said, “We don’t have the power for dramatic change, but we can show the community that we care.”