Thursday, June 20, 2019 - NEWS RELEASE

San Diego – As a part of his commitment to keeping San Diego neighborhoods clean and safe, Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer was joined Thursday by City Councilmember Vivian Moreno to officially sign the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget that significantly expands the popular “Clean SD” program to remove trash and debris from communities across the city.

With cleanup crews clearing trash from a dead-end street known for illegal dumping, Mayor Faulconer touted expanding the program citywide, including the hiring of a second shift of crews and enacting litter removal on a 24/7 basis. Mayor Faulconer more than doubled funding for the program by adding $6.5 million to its budget – for a total of more than $10 million annually in cleanup efforts.

“We’re restoring pride back in our neighborhoods with every cleanup job, and now we’re investing more resources into ‘Clean SD’ so we can do even more for our communities,” Mayor Faulconer said. “San Diegans deserve nothing less than to have clean and safe public spaces to enjoy and this budget delivers on that commitment in a big way for neighborhood residents.”

The $4.3 billion budget – approved by a supermajority of the City Council last week – also funds the largest infrastructure investment in City history while directing more funding toward homelessness, housing reforms, climate action and road repair.

“This budget delivers in a major way for the neighborhoods of District 8. I’m proud to support a budget that invests in our parks and libraries, expands our efforts to clean up illegal dumping and graffiti, and adds more police officers and firefighters to keep us safe,” Councilmember Moreno said.

Initially launched in May 2017, the “Clean SD” program is an aggressive cleanup effort to keep our neighborhoods, public spaces, canyons and riverbeds free and clear of trash and debris. City and Urban Corps crews respond to complaints received through the City’s Get It Done application, and have removed litter from “hotspots” in Ocean Beach, City Heights, San Ysidro, Logan Heights, Paradise Hills, Webster & Mount Hope, Mission Beach, Point Loma and Pacific Beach – neighborhoods with a historically high level of illegal dumping activity.

In partnership with the San Diego River Park Foundation, the City has also targeted land along the San Diego River. The City only owns about one-third of the property along the river with the other two-thirds being privately-held by several businesses and other government agencies. Cleanup efforts along the river reduced the number of homeless encampments by 90 percent.

The “Clean SD” initiative also includes canyons to help reduce the risk of wildfires and materials that could cause them to spread more easily after they spark. Since its inception, crews have already removed over 3,600 tons of debris, including:

• 7,200 mattresses and box springs
• 2,100 shopping carts
• 900 tires
• 550 appliances

Other “Clean SD” efforts include:

• Increased street sweeping in the East Village neighborhood
• Sanitizing sidewalks in downtown and other neighborhoods
• Prioritizing graffiti removal requests
• Organizing community cleanups that collected more than 1,000 tons of waste and debris from San Diego neighborhoods in 2018
• Holding the City’s annual cleanup event at SDCCU Stadium – with more than 140 tons of waste and recyclables collected in a single day

Learn more about the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget.