Responding to more than 7,000 graffiti incidents, removing more than 1,500 shopping carts and clearing more than 90 tons of debris are some of the activities provided by the City of Yakima Clean City Program in 2020.
The Yakima City Council received an annual report on the program in its agenda packet for the March 16th meeting.
“The Clean City program experienced a few challenges in its first full year of implementation, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Public Works Director Scott Schafer. “Great care was taken for the safety of our employees and the public. Overall, the program accomplished a significant amount of success in providing timely responses to many incidents of blight within the City of Yakima.”
Click Coversheet (novusagenda.com) for a copy of the report. The link also includes a Clean City Program report for the 4th quarter of 2020.
The City of Yakima developed “Clean City” as a program in 2019. Its main objectives are:
- Address visual blight (trash, graffiti, dangerous building, abandoned vehicles, etc.)
- Address unscheduled collection of waste and litter from the City’s public areas/thoroughfares
- Expedite the clean-up of such illegal dumps
- Clean up homeless encampments
- Support Yakima Police Department officers in unlawful camping enforcement
- Provide coordination with neighborhoods for annual clean-up events
- Create educational components
- Engage with community partners and volunteers
Clean City, under the direction of the City’s Public Works Division, coordinates the efforts of several City departments and community partners. They include:
City of Yakima Public Works
Public Works Administration
Refuse Division
Streets & Traffic Division
Parks & Recreation Division
City of Yakima Codes Division
City of Yakima Legal Department
Yakima Police Department
Sunrise Outreach
Click https://www.yakimawa.gov/services/public-works/ for more about the City of Yakima Public Works Division.