San Jose clean-up program expands

San Jose city leaders, Tuesday, celebrated the expansion of a program designed to spruce up the streets as well as give a new lease on life for some of the city's homeless residents. 

Officials earmarked the spending of $80,000 to expand the Downtown Streets Team in order to give the entire city an equal amount of shine.

"This is really the definition of getting back to basics," said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

 The newest addition to the Calle-Willow neighborhood in San Jose was hard at work in the afternoon hours. 

A five-person trash pick up team, courtesy of the Downtown Streets Team program, used grabbers and brooms to clean a section of Willow St. near Almaden Ave.

 "It’s a fantastic combination. Partnerships is what we need to do," said Nanci Klein, director of the San Jose Office of Economic Development & Cultural Affairs.

 City officials said the "teams" program, aimed at keeping city streets clean, is expanding into five other neighborhoods. In addition to Calle-Willow, East Village, Alum Rock, East Santa Clara Street, and Luna Park will see the once a week service.

 "This is not something that was done quickly. It was a lot of work by a lot of people, as well as our business district," said Program Operations Director Erica Laguna.

 Many business owners in the Luna Park neighborhood said trash and blight has scared off would be customers.

 "I saw someone posting in my Google saying that it wasn’t very safe to come here. That it was too dirty," said Francisco Quintero, owner of Maza restaurant. 

Added Mahan, "We all know that foot traffic is the life blood of most of our small businesses. That requires clean safe inviting areas that draw in more people."

 The teams’ four-hour spruce, one day a week, can benefit neighbors and businesses. Team members will also do outreach with some of the city’s estimated 4,000+ homeless residents.

 "I never seen anything so different in my life. And it was a pleasure to work with downtown streets team knowing how much debris and other stuff was in the area," said Mercy Wong, a Downtown Streets Team employee since 2009.

 Officials said the monetary investment that’s expanding this 13-year-old program helps confront two problems at once.

 "Meeting our homeless neighbors basic needs while they help clean up the city and turn their lives around is the most simple yet transformative thing we can do for them and our entire city," said Mahan.

 The teams work four-hour in each neighborhood one day a week. They’ll also report illegal dumping around the city.