ALLENTOWN SWEEP - Litter, Trash & Recycling Education & Enforcement Program

Purpose

Allentown has experienced a growing litter problem in the downtown neighborhoods surrounding the center city business and government district over the last twenty years. In the City's 2003 Citizen Satisfaction Survey, center city residents rated litter (tied with crime) as the "single most important issue that should be addressed by the city government." The Allentown Ahead cabinet identified trash and litter in Allentown neighborhoods as a major priority for the revitalization of the City.

Research confirms a relationship between urban litter, crime and neighborhood decline. Litter can present health, fire and safety hazards. Litter is a costly problem with many intangible and incommensurable costs beyond the expense of cleanup. A clean city attracts residents, businesses and shoppers. A dirty city depresses property values, attracts crime and creates the perception that crime and disorder is tolerated. Litter attracts more litter creating a downward spiral.

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, urban litter reduces:
* Economic development, investment and location of businesses
* Property values and increases urban decay
* Tourism
* Revenue for businesses in littered areas
* Funds for other efforts due to increased cost for cleanup
* Concern for obeying the law resulting in increased crime, gang and drug activity
* Community pride

Allentown has made significant improvements in its cleaning programs in the last ten years, including adding alley sweeping, improving street and sidewalk cleaning, increasing the capacity and number of street-side litter baskets from 180 to 925, adding three basket/cleanup collection crews who empty 98,000 litter baskets per year and instituting a program that cleans graffiti from over 400 private properties each year at no charge. The Bureau of Recycling and Solid Waste has distributed over 8,000 brooms since 1999 to citizens pledging to keep sidewalks clean and provides cleanup supplies, equipment, and disposal to cleanup volunteer groups and ADOPT-A-BLOCK participants. The Bureau has begun to add an additional 100 litter baskets in 2005.

Allentown mechanically cleans over 13,500 lane-miles of streets, removing over 10,000 tons of refuse; removes 1,800 loads of debris from parks and over 470 tons of trash from litter baskets and sidewalks annually. The City's contracted trash hauler collects over 50,000 tons of trash, recyclables and yard waste annually with a significant improvement in collection cleanliness and reduction in spillage complaints since the company began service in June 2002.

In March 2004, a new smaller street sweeper began cleaning alleys and smaller streets in center city that the City's larger sweepers cannot enter. In 2005, street cleaning will begin March 1 in downtown, one month earlier than previous years. March is typically the dirtiest month of the year so this improvement should make a significant improvement in cleanliness. In addition, only the center city night-time street cleaning district (Turner St to Union Street and 4th to 10th) will be converted to a day-time ticketed street cleaning route as of March 1, 2005. The new curb-to-curb sweeping will improve cleanliness in the center city business district since the area has many more cars parked overnight than last 20 years ago. (Hamilton Street will continue to be swept daily.)

The Allentown Bureau of Recycling and Solid Waste has increased awareness of the litter problem through The Don't Trash Allentown campaign. Don't Trash Allentown has become a highly visible and well-recognized message on billboards, two City trash trucks (winner of the national Waste Age magazine truck design contest in 2003) and signs and stickers in stores and on litter baskets. The Bureau initiated a variety of litter and recycling education and outreach programs, including school assemblies, youth playground programs, parade floats, newsletters, ADOPT-A-BLOCK program, and door-to-door bilingual outreach. As a result, visible reductions in litter, trash and graffiti have occurred in the last ten years.

Despite the improvements in cleaning and public education regarding litter, trash and litter problems persist in highly transient center city neighborhoods surrounding the business district. Mayor Afflerbach convened a Litter and Illegal Dumping Task Force in 2002 to address the problem. In September 2003, the group identified the City's lack of coordinated and pro-active enforcement of trash, litter and dumping laws as the main priority in reducing litter in Allentown.

The Task Force recommended that the City organize a new unit, based on Philadelphia's successful SWEEP program (information attached), to provide coordinated, pro-active field level litter and trash education and enforcement, revise it's ordinances to streamline and strengthen procedures and institute a ticketing system to supplement the cumbersome citation process. Center city neighborhood groups have complained about the lack of pro-active trash and litter enforcement for years. Focus groups held with Spanish-speaking Allentown residents (homeowners and tenants) in 2004 confirmed similar support for a cleaner city through education and enforcement.


Project Description

Allentown proposes to conduct a pilot trash and litter enforcement program in 2005. The goal of the SWEEP pilot (Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program) is to develop a new City unit that will provide pro-active, field level education and enforcement of Allentowns litter and trash ordinances. Allentown plans to pilot the program in 2005 in the Weed and Seed area and expand it into a permanent unit in 2006, provided the pilot program outcomes are favorable.

The SWEEP officers will go door-to-door to educate citizens, business and property owners on their responsibilities under the City's sanitation laws. The officers will assist residents and businesses in addressing problems. The officers will make follow-up visits to hold people accountable and to ascertain compliance. The officers will be empowered to issue warnings, tickets and citations.

They will collect data such as trash out early, trash improperly prepared and illegal dumping to help determine the scope of the problems and need for the program. They will also participate in other initiatives such as cleanups, and measure cleanliness and citizen attitudes before and after SWEEP activities to evaluate effectiveness.

The Bureaus of Health and Recycling and Solid Waste have committed staff time to the pilot program. A Program Manager will coordinate the program with the assistance of the Associate Director of the Bureau of Health, the Environmental Health Field Services Manager and the Manager of the Bureau of Recycling and Solid Waste. A Health Bureau Sanitarian and (bi-lingual) Bureau of Recycling Solid Waste Outreach Worker will assist the pilot program with complaint investigation, organizing cleanups, and broom distribution with the SWEEP officers.

A key component of the program is the development of an administrative ticket that can be issued prior to or in a lieu of a citation. The $25 tickets will be issued for littering, trash set out early or not properly contained and properties and sidewalks where litter has accumulated. The violator can pay the ticket to avoid the filing of a much costlier citation with the District Justice. Tickets will be issued by the SWEEP officers in the Weed and Seed area and city-wide by the Allentown Police Department beginning in May 2005. The ticket revenues will accrue to the Solid Waste Fund to help offset the SWEEP program costs. Allentown City Council passed the ticket provisions and other amendments to strengthen the Citys Anti-Litter and related ordinances on March 2, 2005.
Allentown has begun the work to institute a pilot SWEEP program in the Weed and Seed area in 2005. Managers with Allentowns Police Department, and Bureaus of Health, Recycling and Solid Waste and Building Standards have begun to develop the administrative and field policies and procedures for the ticketing and SWEEP program. The Bureau will mail a letter and stickers to be posted in each unit addressing proper trash and litter procedures to the owners of all residential rental properties in March, 2005 (attached).

A mailing will be sent to all owners, tenants and businesses in the Weed and Seed area in May to address the trash and litter requirements, the SWEEP program and the new ticketing process.


Anticipated Benefit to the Community

The enforcement of litter and trash ordinances by the City of Allentown is a key to revitalization and improving the quality of life in Allentown. The pro-active, systematic SWEEP education and enforcement program will increase awareness of the responsibility property owners have for keeping their properties, sidewalks and streets clean, reduce violations and complaints, and improve coordination between enforcement and cleaning programs in the areas targeted. Philadelphia reported a 70% increase in compliance with its Sanitation laws after the institution of SWEEP.

The institution of an administrative ticket process will allow SWEEP, other City enforcement personnel and police officers to issue a ticket that will not require a court appearance, resulting in more enforcement of littering laws. The pilot program will provide data for determining the extent of the problems and justification for an ongoing program. Mayor Afflerbach has expressed his support for a permanent SWEEP program, once its value is established by the pilot program.

The sustained focus on litter and trash enforcement will send the message that Allentown is serious about cleanliness. The ultimate expected outcome of a cleaner city will improve the image, environment and conditions of residential neighborhoods enhancing Allentowns image and economic vitality. Citizen satisfaction, neighborhood pride and the quality of life in Allentown will improve.

Allentown will measure output such as the number of field contacts, tickets written, problems resolved and outcomes such as cleanliness, citizen satisfaction and citizen attitudes. The baseline cleanliness rating survey, conducted in late November 2004, on 98 of the 198 major block faces in the Weed and Seed, averaged 2.47, on a scale of 1 (clean) to 4 (extremely littered). The same blocks will be surveyed to assess progress in the future.