Seattle (March 19, 2021) – Starting in February, Clean City funds have enabled business associations and business districts to increase their efforts to clean up trash, address graffiti, and clean streets and sidewalks. The Clean City Initiative will provide additional funding for Broadway BIA, Chinatown/International District BIA, Columbia City BIA, University District BIA, Pioneer Square, West Seattle Junction Association, and Ballard Business Association to enhance their regular cleaning efforts within their business districts. Additionally, funds have paid to support enhanced cleaning services in business districts in Beacon Hill, Central Area, Aurora Licton, Mt Baker, Rainier Valley, Georgetown, South Park, Hillman City, Rainier Beach, Othello, Lake City, First Hill, and Capitol Hill.
After Photo: Uplift Northwest employee cleaning up graffiti.
For the month of February, business districts saw substantial impact from these additional Clean City funds with an additional 509 hours of cleaning hours, which included graffiti removed from 717 structures and more trash and needles collected.
“It isn’t just our parks and neighborhoods that could benefit from a surge of cleaning, our business districts can too! We are supporting our businesses’ recovery by ensuring that the streets and sidewalks surrounding them are clean and inviting. The hard work of Clean City crews and community partners is staring to pay off, and we will keep it up to get our city and our parks clean, safe, and ready for recovery,” said Mayor Jenny Durkan.
“Our city has a history of business innovation and vision, and our revitalization strategy depends on the success of our business districts throughout Seattle. The Clean City Initiative will continue to keep storefronts clean, open, and welcoming as we reopen our economy. The success of the Clean City Initiative cannot be understated, and we must continue this investment in the businesses that make Seattle such a special place to live,” said Councilmember Debora Juarez.
“Uplift Northwest is grateful to partner with the City of Seattle on the Clean City Initiative in not only beautifying our communities, but also providing life-changing employment readiness training and job opportunities to men and women experiencing poverty and homelessness. Homelessness and the pandemic have disproportionately affected families in our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community, and by providing stable jobs through the Clean City Initiative, Uplift Northwest is creating a pathway to stable housing and self-sufficiency to our most vulnerable citizens,” Gina Hall, Executive Director of Uplift Northwest.
This portion of the Clean City work started in February, and compliments the additional litter routes, neighborhood and park focus cleaning, increased trash pick-up from encampments and RVs, and additional needle collection efforts performed by City crews.
In the month of February (crews were pulled away for snow response 2/12-2/16), Clean City work from City crews included:
- 5 park clean ups
- 423 bags of trash collected
- 83 sidewalk blocks swept
- 33,696 needles collected
- 837,754lbs of trash collected
“Columbia City is a small business district, and the Clean City Initiative (CCI) is making a big impact. With CCI supplemental funds, we’ve been able to expand the scope of work of our BIA cleaning contractor to include cleaning and painting of our landmark district “street furniture”. To say the least, this work is long overdue. In this “springtime of hope”, these neighborhood improvements are making a noticeable difference. Thanks to the Mayor for the initiative, and thanks to OED for the hassle-free program implementation,” said Rob Mohn, Columbia City Business Association.
“The Clean City Initiative funding has allowed us to double our planned cleaning service that we provide for the Ballard community. Our sidewalks and alleys are looking better than they have in a long time and the CCI Team has been responsive in addressing large-scale garbage cleanups in the community. And as we look to welcome even more people back to Ballard as the pandemic subsides, having a clean and safe neighborhood is more important than ever,” said Mike Stewart, Executive Director, Ballard Alliance.
The Clean City Initiative combines a suite of enhanced and expanded cleaning efforts, including:
- Intensive Park Maintenance. SPR chooses two parks each week that undergo intensive cleaning efforts (trash pick up, needle pick up, pressure washing, shrub bed maintenance).
- Encampment trash clean up. SPR and SPU visit encampments and RVs throughout the city to collect trash and litter.
- Additional litter routes. SPU works with contractors to cover weekly routes picking up trash and illegally dumped items.
- Clean City Teams bring together staff from SDOT and SPR to do litter pick up, street cleaning, graffiti removal, and enhanced maintenance from streets and parks throughout the city.
- Business District Cleaning efforts. Funding is being provided towards cleaning efforts in business districts throughout the city.
- Needle Drop Boxes. With Clean City funds, SPU will add 10 new needle boxes in parks and neighborhoods.
If there is litter, trash, needles, or illegal dumped materials near you, you can always report via the City’s Find It, Fix It app, or call (206) 684-CITY (2489).
The Clean City Initiative provides a surge of litter pick-up and maintenance that will continue through April 2021. To learn more and follow along with these efforts, please visit www.seattle.gov/clean-city