In an interview Wednesday, Fischer said an assessment is already underway using city data, social media and community input to determine areas that need “concentrated help” to be more “clean and green.”
“Cleanliness sets the tone for a city,” he said. “It’s an emphasis for every part of the city to be clean.”
The announcement follows a WFPL story that found areas plagued most by trash often lack public trash bins. A review of city data showed that 73 percent of all trash-related complaints reported to the city’s MetroCall 311 service last year were not within one block of a trash can. And 41 percent of those locations had no trash bin within two blocks.
Many of these areas are home to the city’s poorest residents. Some said they feel neglected by city leaders who’d rather invest resources in tourist hotspots than neighborhoods.
“They don’t care about poor people,” said Mandy Cissell.
She lives in the Taylor Berry neighborhood, where 91 percent of 340 trash-related problems reported last year were not within one block of a city trash bin, data show.
Fischer said reviewing the location of public trash bins as it relates to trash complaints “is an important data point,” but he wasn’t sure if that’s part of the process underway now.
“If it’s not being done, it will be done,” he said. “These are all good questions.”
Fischer said his administration is “looking at all the data that has to do with being clean and being green and developing ways to be cleaner and greener.”
‘Cleanliness Index’ Measure Underway
The city’s public works department has been assessing cleanliness issues since early 2016, said Pete Flood, the department’s compliance and enforcement manager.
City crews have been partnering with residents in the Shelby Park and Smoketown neighborhoods to scour the streets and alleys and come up with a “cleanliness index,” he said. The index is based, largely, on observation — not existing data, he said.
The efforts in Shelby Park and Smoketown will serve as a pilot for Fischer’s citywide initiative, Flood said.
Crews soon will begin to implement specific initiatives in these neighborhoods in hopes of reducing trash and bettering the index, he said. Options include more trash bins in residential areas, providing residents with larger waste containers for curbside pick-up and reworking collection schedules, Flood said.
“We feel like we are onto something,” Flood said.
To read the full story, visit https://wfpl.org/louisville-mayor-greg-fischer-promises-address-citys-trash-problem/.