May 17, 2008 4:42 pm US/Central
Chicago Gets Clean With National Support
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
More than 10,000 people hit the streets of Chicago to make it a more beautiful city Saturday.
And this year, Keep America Beautiful pitched in, tying Chicago to its national Great American Clean Up Program. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports Mayor Daley wants residents to keep up the effort year-round.
New energy bounced on Chicago streets. The city's Clean and Green Program renewed its efforts to turn littered streets into tidy ones.
"We ask everybody to do their part about cleaning in and around their homes, their yards the sidewalk, the street, the alley," Mayor Daley said.
Daley has been promoting clean neighborhoods for more than two decades.
But Saturday, his program got a boost with financial donations from sponsors and help from the national Keep America Beautiful organization.
"We are fighting dirty this year," said Gail Cunningham of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. "We're fighting dirty rivers, we're fighting dirty parks. We're fighting dirty streets."
Saturday's event allowed the city to show off its Second River Cleaning Boat, which can spray debris away and filter the water. It's just part of the city's commitment to helping the environment.
"We clean and sweep 443,000 miles of alleys," said Chicago Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Piccardi. "We remove graffiti in over 156,000 instances of graffiti."
Supporters say having clean parks and streets leads to a safer community.
Betty Jo Swanson of the 79th and Carpenter Block Club, is one full-time volunteer who received an award for making that change on her block.
"Within the cul de sac we've cut down drugs, we've cut down gangs. We've made it like a litter free area," Swanson said.
By the end of the month, Keep America Beautiful will have helped host clean-ups in more than 17,000 communities across the country and around the world.
The trash bags, tools, mulch and other items were donated for the event. Keep America Beautiful spruced up some 55 traffic circles with new plants and shrubs.
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