Clean Team in our Neighborhood

by William Sittig

Who are those men with fluorescent work shirts you may have seen sprucing up the commercial area near the Van Ness/UDC Metro Station?

They are members of the Connecticut Avenue Clean Team, which began in November of last year to clean and beautify our neighborhood.

This four-member team, which works in the Connecticut Avenue corridor between Woodley Park and Albemarle Street, is responsible for trash pickup, graffiti removal, sorting recyclables from the litter and debris collected, snow and ice removal from sidewalks and crosswalks, weeding sidewalks, removal of illegal posters and stickers from commercial buildings and public spaces, and power-washing sidewalks. Much of their day-to-day effort is devoted to litter removal by picking up, sweeping and bagging litter and debris that accumulates on sidewalks, in curbs and gutters, and in tree boxes and, as a supplement to DPW, emptying overflowing trash cans.

The Clean Team is under the aegis of the Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Cooperative, which is funded from the DC budget with contributions from local businesses and property owners. In addition to their daily duties, they have partnered with UDC and other organizations to provide continued training to the Clean Team members. It’s the Cooperative’s vision “that the Clean Team be one piece of the greater DC mission to empower its residents by creating stable and thriving individuals, homes and neighborhoods.”