Downtown Sacramento businesses tired of garbage launch volunteer crew to clean up their block
A group of Downtown Sacramento business owners who operate in the block of K and 12th streets says they grew tired of watching garbage pile up on city streets and decided to roll up their sleeves and take matters into their own hands.
City of Sacramento trash crews do go out and work to keep downtown clean, but these local business owners noticed it just was not enough and say blight was impacting their bottom line.
The effort is called "Our City, Our Block" and is spearheaded by Ernesto Delgado, owner of Mayahuel, and Patrick Miller, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Sacramento.
"Cleanliness promotes safety," said Delgado.
The coalition of business owners and volunteers goes out every Thursday morning on K, L, 12 and 13th streets on the hunt for litter.
The task at hand is a small one that they say makes a big difference over time.
"We go around our block and pick up trash," said Delgado. "Whether it's a cup, a straw, a cigarette butt, it doesn't matter what it is. We pick it up, throw it away, and it results in a beautiful, clean block."
Delgado says the makeover has helped.
"More visitors, more business for our small business, for our restaurants, for our hotels that are trying to survive," said Delgado.
The coalition has been cleaning up their block every Thursday morning at 10:30, an initiative that kicked off earlier this year.
"We can own our block and make sure it's clean," said Miller. "When we started this about four months ago, it probably took us a good hour, maybe longer to clean up everything. We're down to about 30 minutes each time, so there's a definite difference."
Since Miller and Delgado took on the trash on their block, the momentum has grown downtown.
"We're actually sending out a pledge to all of our hotel members to ask them to take their part and pledge to committing once a week to doing a cleanup in their area. So the more the merrier," said Miller.
The owner of The Sheraton hotel now leads a group of volunteers on Tuesday mornings with the same mission to clean up their block as well.
"We want all of downtown Sacramento to take ownership of their blocks. Hopefully this grows, grows and grows," said Delgado.
They say they hope it expands to every street in downtown Sacramento. Anyone is welcome to volunteer with the groups on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
