Street Sweeping assessment district for downtown Berkeley
Berkeley Voice City Briefs, March 23, 1995
Clean streets

Thanks to crews of homeless street cleaners, shoppers and Berkeley businesses can expect cleaner streets in the Telegraph, Shattuck and University Avenue commercial districts.

The City Council voted unanimously to spend $15,000 from the Berkeley Streets and Utilities Division to increase a program that employs the homeless to keep Berkeley streets clean.

Councilmember Dona Spring, who represents the downtown area, said the expanded street sweeping is much needed. "I have never experienced a town with so many litterbugs," Spring said.

The council will expand an existing contract with Berkeley Oakland Support Services, Inc.

But Berkeley resident L A  Wood said he does not think the city should have to pay to clean up downtown. He said there is a 50- to 60-year-old ordinance mandating shop owners keep the sidewalks clean, and no one has ever been cited for breaking the ordinance. In addition Wood said business owners have rebuffed efforts to set up a downtown assessment district to insure clean streets.

"It's about time they [shop owners] came out and took responsibility for that aspect of street cleaning," Wood said.

The increased street sweeping program will do a number of things, including:

• Increase the hours of collection from 5 p.m. to 9 P.M.;

• Expand the collection area to include Addison and Center streets from Milvia to Oxford streets, Kittredge Street from Harold Way to Oxford Street, Shattuck Avenue from University Avenue to Berkeley Way, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way from University Avenue to Berkeley Way;

• Increase the total contract amount by $15,000 to pay for the new services.

The contract would be increased by $15,000 to a total of $111,153 to pay for the additional hours of operation and the expansion of the collection area through the June 30, 1995 end of the contract.