As a new initiative to battle blight in Baton Rouge, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome announced city-parish workers, nonprofit organizations and local businesses will team up for a five-day clean up dubbed Operation Fresh Start.
Starting Monday, six debris cleaning teams dispatched throughout the city are set to tackle nearly 900 trash and debris piles and respond to 73 requests to pick up illegally dumped tires, Broome says.
Workers with the Department of Public Works’ Department of Maintenance will also clean and repair storm drains, fill potholes and pick up broken concrete.
After the operation, the city-parish government will assess the newly cleaned corridors and decide whether the initiative will be repeated quarterly.
“I want to see our city radically transformed,” Broome says.
The clean-up effort will focus on five Baton Rouge corridors: North Foster Drive from Government Street to Glen Oaks Drive, North Ardenwood Drive from Government Street to Winbourne Avenue, East Washington Avenue from Highland Road to Dalrymple Drive, East Boulevard from Convention Street to Myrtle Avenue and Thomas Delpit Drive from Myrtle Avenue to East Roosevelt Street.
Next week’s cleaning spree is the latest effort by Broome to tackle blight in the city.
Blight does not end solely through clean-up efforts, Broome notes. Residents must help maintain progress achieved after the operation ends. “I need help to co-create the kind of community we all want to live in so that we all may have a sense of pride in our city and parish,” Broome says.
