By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams, the City Department of Sanitation, and the Sanitation Foundation (DSNY’s official nonprofit) announced a major new philanthropic undertaking focused on cleaning high-traffic commercial corridors across the city in a video released Friday.
Beginning on Nostrand Avenue, from Myrtle Avenue to Eastern Parkway, and Utica Avenue, from Fulton Street to East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn, this new initiative — dubbed the “Clean City Alliance” — will provide sidewalk cleaning to some of the busiest areas that do not have Business Improvement Districts (BID) to help organize cleanliness efforts in all five boroughs. Property owners are legally responsible for the cleanliness of the sidewalk in front of their property, as well as 18 inches into the street. In many neighborhoods, businesses pay to form BIDs, which then contract with outside groups for sidewalk cleaning, making a noticeable difference in sidewalk cleanliness and pedestrian experience. The “Clean City Alliance” will bring philanthropy and the private sector together and will begin by servicing sidewalks in parts of Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy — a neighborhood that does not have a BID — and will expand to other busy commercial corridors without BIDs across the city. The “Clean City Alliance” will also be a source of employment opportunity, hiring locally across the five boroughs.
Purposefully designed to be a replicable model, the “Clean City Alliance” will provide sidewalk cleaning and litter removal services to a given neighborhood for a set period of time, during which the Sanitation Foundation and DSNY will work closely with local stakeholders to ensure the neighborhood continues to remain clean.
The launch of the “Clean City Alliance” comes as part of a massive overhaul of cleanliness across the Big Apple, including:
- The return of full street sweeping and Alternate Side Parking;
- The highest level of litter basket service in history;
- Streamlining responsibilities in an effort to ensure long-ignored areas — like medians, step streets, and greenways — are cleaned;
- A universal curbside composting program — being rolled out over the next year and a half — which will remove rat food from trash bags;
- The city’s first anti-littering marketing campaign in 15 years; and
- New enforcement against the scourge of illegal dumping, including $4,000 summonses and vehicle impounds.
New Yorkers who wish to support the work of the “Clean City Alliance” can contribute via sanitationfoundation.org.
“New Yorkers deserve to have safe, clean streets,” City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) said. “This new ‘Clean City Alliance’ will bring us that much closer to bringing clean streets and sidewalks to everyone in the five boroughs and will hopefully spread throughout the city to ensure a high quality of life for everyone.”
Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Woodhaven) added, “The ‘Clean City Alliance’ is an innovative partnership between city government and the private sector to keep our sidewalks clean. This philanthropic initiative will lift a huge burden off the shoulders of working-class and small business owners, who often cannot afford to participate in BIDs shown to keep busy commercial corridors clean. In fact, 98 percent of the city lacks the benefit of BIDs. The ‘Clean City Alliance’ will step in to fill the gap and free us from the vermin and health hazards that litter precipitates.”
