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Fair City to collect fees for ‘Clean Team’ services
The city unveiled plans to launch a “Clean Team” at last week’s City Council meeting in order to make the downtown areas more welcoming to tourists and residents.
Commercial property owners and landlords along West Beech Street and Park Avenue will be charged a fee in order to fund the services of the team, which is estimated to cost $175,000 per year, as part of an effort to keep Long Beach’s business districts free of litter and garbage.
“Improving the cleanliness of the downtown has been something that has been a goal of the city and the City Council for quite some time,” said City Manager Jack Schnirman.
The idea for the year-round team evolved from efforts by volunteers and city crews in the past, which included sweeping streets, cleaning storm drains, painting crosswalks, repairing street signs, power washing commercial sidewalks, inspecting abandoned properties and cleaning parks. Such services will now occur daily.
Details of the new plan were presented at the council’s May 17 meeting, where some residents criticized the initiative, saying that keeping areas clean is the responsibility of businesses and landlords, not the city.
“[The East End] looks like a slum,” one resident from Roslyn said. “…I suggest that we force compliance of these codes on the business owners. Let them sweep their stores. If they don’t sweep them, fine them. They will get the message.”
But Jim LaCarrubba, commissioner of the city’s Department of Public Works, said certain businesses are simply not complying with the city’s codes. Though warnings and citations are issued, it is tough for one inspector to cover the three business districts in Long Beach, he said, adding that some of the properties are repeat offenders despite the penalty.
City officials made clear that the initiative would not decrease enforcement, but simply help businesses clean up debris and spillage in the gutters and along sidewalks, which they said residents have complained about.
