Mayor Cherelle Parker was joined last week by city and state officials to discuss the completion of the One Philly, United City Citywide Cleaning Program, and provide a summary of its services completed throughout Philadelphia.
According to officials, more than 61,000 quality-of-life services were completed over a 13-week period from June 3 through Aug. 30. Over a dozen city departments, along with local agencies and nonprofits, worked to address chronic quality of life issues related to litter, illegal dumping, graffiti, abandoned automobiles, vacant lots, and nuisance properties.
“This all-hands-on-deck effort is the perfect example of intergovernmental collaboration with departments working to create a government every resident can see, touch, and feel,”said Parker.“We made a massive impact on our city, but we are not done. More efforts led by the Office of Clean and Green Initiatives are coming to make Philadelphia the Safest, Cleanest, Greenest big city in the nation with access to economic opportunity for all.”
The program’s cleaning tasks includes pothole repairs, graffiti removal, vacant lot cleanups, abandoned vehicle removal, and LED lights installed, among other tasks.
To commemorate the program’s success and thank employees for their work in cleaning the city, a celebration barbecue was held at the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) Office. Officials thanked employees for their hard work in completing the largest quality-of-life undertaking in the city’s history.
“I want to thank each and every department and supporting agency that contributed to this massive effort to address multiple quality-of-life issues that impact neighborhoods across the city,” said Carlton Williams, Director of Clean and Green Initiatives. “Thanks to the success of the program and the diligent efforts of our employees the One Philly, United City Citywide Cleaning Program is now standard operating procedure where detailed cleaning will take place in every neighborhood twice yearly.”
During the celebration, newly wrapped Big Belly litter baskets were unveiled with a new feature that captures cigarette litter. Through Parker’s budget, 1,500 new solar-powered litter baskets have been funded allowing for double the number of Big Bellies in the city. The litter baskets will be installed along commercial corridors and high pedestrian traffic areas to allow for the discarding of litter.
The next phase of sanitation initiatives were unveiled — starting this month, the Council District Residential Cleaning Program will begin. Crews will be divided into 10 Council Districts to provide detailed cleaning daily. In late fall, twice-per-week collections will begin and be phased in various neighbors citywide annually. Details of each program will be announced later this month.
