By Jessica Glazer

On a recent Wednesday morning, Orlando Rivera walked up and down Kingsbridge Road clearing away anything from abandoned umbrellas, to dead birds, to discarded coffee cups.

“We clean whatever you see out here and nobody wants to pick up,” he said.

In a city of more than eight million people, keeping the streets clean is a constant battle. But now the New York City government, in partnership with community groups, merchants and property owners, is sending out reinforcements.

Rivera is one of two sanitation workers contracted by NYC Clean Streets, a new initiative of the city Department of Small Business Services (SBS), which is currently putting money toward cleaning up eight commercial corridors throughout the city to make these areas more attractive to shoppers and merchants alike.

In the northwest Bronx, Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC) is working as an intermediary between SBS and merchants to tidy up Kingsbridge Road from the Grand Concourse to Sedgwick Avenue, and on Jerome Avenue, from 192nd to 195th streets.

“At the foundation of any vibrant commercial district are clean streets, sidewalks and storefronts,” said SBS Commissioner Robert Walsh. He added that the agency chose MPC because it has a “solid track record of carrying out successful economic development initiatives,” such as the Jerome Avenue–Gun Hill Road Business Improvement District (BID) formed in 1997.

In the past few months, MPC has been handing out fliers and surveys and trying to raise awareness of the program.

Rivera and his partner, toting garbage cans with Cleans Streets logos on them, have been walking the streets five days a week since December; picking up garbage, tearing down posters and clearing snow from street corners.  

Many of the merchants in the area have noticed Rivera and his partner’s work and sometimes give them hot meals or coffee.

The program aims to eventually phase out the city funding of about $30,000 per area, which covers the entire cost of sanitation services the first year. In the second year, MPC, merchants and property owners must cover 25 percent of the cost, and 50 percent by the third year. By the fourth year, the idea is that merchants and property owners will see the program’s benefits and take on all of the costs, eliminating the need for assistance from the city and MPC.  

“It’s an experimental project,” said Roberto Garcia, director of economic development at MPC. Eventually, he said, the goal is to strengthen the merchants association on Kingsbridge Road and establish a Business Improvement District (BID) there. In addition to sanitation, a BID raises money for increased security, beautification and marketing.

The biggest challenge for MPC and SBS will be getting merchants to take ownership of the program.

Last week, several merchants in the area said they are supportive of cleaner sidewalks, which means fewer sanitation violation tickets. Although the merchants said they sweep their respective sidewalks multiple times a day, many of them have noticed a difference since December when the program started.

William Sloan, the owner of a grocery store on Kingsbridge Road, said he would support the effort. “I like the idea of keeping the area clean,” he said.  

Ed. note: The Norwood News is published by Mosholu Preservation Corporation.