Mayor’s ‘Keep Fresno Beautiful’ cleanup moving forward. Some say plan ‘lacks clarity’

Some members of the Fresno City Council voiced skepticism on Thursday over Mayor Lee Brand’s plan to get residents to invest time in the “Keep Fresno Beautiful” cleanup effort.

The effort was first mentioned in June during Brand’s State of the City address and the plan was unveiled this week during a presentation from Mark Standriff, spokeperson for the mayor’s office.

The new effort would develop a nonprofit modeled after a similar effort in Bakersfield that’s part of Keep America Beautiful, a national program that tries to inspire and educate people on volunteering to beautify their respective communities and parks.

The Fresno nonprofit would act as an umbrella to oversee cleanup efforts already in place and for those looking for a way to help, Standriff said.

The idea is to make each cleanup more efficient with a few weeks of planning and an assist from public works staffers, Standriff said.

Establishing the nonprofit would come with a $4,000 application fee to Keep America Beautiful and an annual $440 payment, according to the presentation. Those dollars support the nonprofit and cover expenses, such as those costs related to training.

Representatives from the national nonprofit would also make an assessment of Fresno’s nonprofits and other groups who conduct beautification efforts, as well as those who could join. The national nonprofit would also provide a plan for city leaders on how to best implement the program here, according to the presentation.

Brand was out of the area on Thursday and not immediately available for comment. While announcing the new effort in June, Brand said attacking Fresno’s refuse problem should be a concerted effort from everyone in the community.

“One of the most frequent complaints I get from residents and visitors is the unattractive amount of trash that everyone sees on our streets and highways,” he said in June. “It’s ugly and we all can do something about it.”

“The more people commit to cleaning up, the better life will be for everyone in Fresno,” Brand said.

Not every member of the council has taken a public stance on the plan, but at least two showed skepticism following the presentation Thursday.

Councilmember Esmeralda Soria said multiple cleanup efforts already exist in each district and developing an umbrella nonprofit seemed to be adding an unnecessary step.

“I don’t want it to get lost in translation that there’s already hundreds of people in our community doing this hard work,” she said. “I’m concerned we’re creating more bureaucracy just to pick up trash.”

Standriff pushed back against the idea that a new nonprofit creates new bureaucracy. He said Keep America Beautiful has spawned successful version in about 600 cities.

“The reason a nonprofit is important is because that’s how we generate a resource to accept donations, to get money,” he said. “The program is easy to replicate and easy to maintain.”

When city workers assist in cleanup efforts, the costs are typically covered by litter control funds, according to Jerry Schuber, the assistant director of public utilities in Fresno. He said those funds have dwindled in recent years.

The city of Fresno has had a public debate in recent years about the conditions of parks, going as far as trying to pass a measure to better pay for upkeep. Multiple members of the council expressed doubt that the volunteer effort was a viable solution.

Councilmember Miguel Arias said Thursday’s presentation lacked clarity on how the city will pay for an increase in cleanup efforts — and how the city could do a better job of cleaning the city without relying on residents to volunteer.

Many residents are too busy making end meets to realistically volunteer, he said. The city needs to make a greater effort to add public receptacles, clean alleys and other trash-related changes.

“(Keep Fresno Beautiful) relies on the goodwill of the people to do more work without us reflecting on the systematic changes needed in the city,” he said. “I get the rationale of the nonprofit. I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Standriff, again, disagreed with the plan’s detractors, saying the local nonprofit will raise money to cover ongoing costs.

The effort calls for a slow roll out in coming months, but could be used to promote an event as soon as October, Standriff said.

This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 4:37 PM.