(PITTSBURGH) March 22, 2012     Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Clean Pittsburgh Commission (CPC) chairman Boris Weinstein today announced that great strides have been made over the past five years to clean up Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods. Five years after challenging City residents and organizations to band together to clean up their community, the CPC today, at its annual Meet ‘n’ Greet Mixer for neighborhood Clean Pittsburgh stewards at Schenley Park Skating Rink, issued its fifth “State of the City Report.” The report shows evidence that tremendous progress has been made in the areas of litter, illegal dumping, recycling, graffiti and neighborhood blight. In the five-year period, more than 103,300 volunteers collected an estimated 1,600 tons of litter and cleared 7,000 tires from illegal dumpsites; recycling services resulted in over 65,000 tons of waste recycled into 16,000 tons of compost; and City departments demolished over 2,000 abandoned or dilapidated buildings and removed 8,000 abandoned vehicles. 

“I’m proud to see all that our residents and employees have accomplished over the last five years by working together to clean up Pittsburgh’s communities,” Ravenstahl said. “The hard work of the Clean Pittsburgh Commission, as well as community members and organizations, truly makes an impact on the livability of our City. Through initiatives like the CPC and servePGH, I’m confident that Pittsburgh will continue to get cleaner and safer over the next five years.”

The Mayor’s ServePGH initiative, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary, is one of several programs that have contributed to the five-year successes. The report highlights many City initiatives and departments that have worked hard to clean up Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods, including Citizens Against Litter, whose volunteers collected about 1,000 tons of litter; Redd Up Zone, which has cleaned up 20 miles of City streets; Love Your Block, which has impacted 47 City blocks; the Bureau of Building Inspection, which demolished over 2,400 buildings; Allegheny CleanWays, which cleared nearly 600 tons of litter and thousands of tires from illegal dumpsites; the Pennsylvania Resources Council, which worked with “Stash the Trash” schools to pick up over 37 tons of litter; the City’s Public Safety department, which removed thousands of abandoned vehicles; and the Public Works department, which assisted in cleaning up over 1,500 vacant lots.

In 2006, the new CPC unveiled a Five-Year Strategic Plan that challenged City residents and organizations to band together to clean their communities, while City departments provided services to address the City’s needs in a collaborative way. The plan’s overriding goal was to continue to garner national recognition that Pittsburgh is a clean, safe, environmentally friendly city.

“The Clean Pittsburgh Commission vision for Pittsburgh is a city striving to be recognized as one of the cleanest and greenest cities in America,” said Boris Weinstein, CPC chairman and founder of Citizens Against Litter. “One could say removing litter is a thankless job because it comes right back, but CPC members know residents appreciate their efforts and the results.”

The report contains an overview of the activities of the CPC, whose members and organizations perform and oversee waste management, blight, and property issues, including litter, illegal dumping, vacant lots and buildings, abandoned cars, graffiti and recycling.

The complete 2011 State of the City report can be found here.

Highlights from the report include:

FIVE-YEAR SUCCESSES:

• Over 103,300 volunteers from Citizens Against Litter and Allegheny CleanWays collected an estimated 1,600 tons of litter and cleared 7,000 tires from 158 illegal dumpsites.
• The Pennsylvania Resources Council coordinated 210 “Stash the Trash” school cleanups, enabling 23,000 students to pick up 37.5 tons of litter.  
• Since last March, servePGH has empowered more than 1,000 community members to beautify 47 City blocks; weatherize and restore more than 22 homes of veterans, seniors and disabled residents; clean litter from 20 half-mile zones of City streets; and mentor 55 local middle school students.
• Through the Mayor’s single-stream recycling program, the City has recovered valuable resources, saved energy and reduced landfill costs. According to Environmental Services reports, over 65,000 tons of waste was recycled and over 16,000 tons was composted.  During this five-year period, the City saved $1.5 million in landfill costs and generated $3 million income, which is double the 2010 income.
• The City’s Graffiti Busters removed 35,000 square feet of graffiti tags at a cost of $335,000, decreasing the number of tagging incidents in three of the last five years.
• Public Works’ Redd Up crews cleaned up 1,800 vacant lots, removed 22,000 tons of debris and boarded up more than 5,600 properties. Bureau of Building Inspection demolished almost 2,400 abandoned/dilapidated buildings.  The 2011 total of 649 was twice the number of demolitions in 2007. 
• Public Safety has removed 8,000 abandoned vehicles from City streets and lots, recording the lowest numbers in the last two of the previous five years. The City’s 311 Response Line received 220,000 service requests about abandoned vehicles, property issues, potholes, litter, overgrown lots/sidewalks and police issues.  Nearly 90 percent of the calls were resolved or handed off.

At today’s Meet ’n Greet Mixer the commission thanked its 2012 sponsors: Kevin Acklin, Citizens Against Litter, Council President Darlene Harris, Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, Councilman Corey O’Connor, Councilman Bill Peduto, Councilman Bruce Kraus, Giant Eagle, pair Networks and Waste Management.

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