Clean Up
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Did you seen the Green Team cleaning up 14th & U Streets this past weekend?
This past Friday marked the beginning of a 45 day, seven day a week, demonstration project to clean, maintain and enhance the 14th & U Commercial
District. The program is a partnership between:
> 14th & U Main Street Initiative (14th & U MSI)
> Coalition For the Homeless (CFH)
> University of the District of Columbia-Extension Program (UDC-EP)
The demonstration project will provide 5 full time and 5 part time positions through the end of October. The demonstration project will be managed by the Coalition for the Homeless, located and 13th & Massachusetts, and is
being financed by UDC-EP and by PN Hoffman, which has pledged a five-year annual $10,000 contribution as part of a PUD application before the city for their project on 14th Street between V Street and W Street.
The demonstration project will spend this week focused upon trash and weeds.
Many sidewalks, gutters, alleys and tree boxes along the corridor have not seen any maintenance this year. We are in need of a volunteer or
volunteers to provide support for the team as it works upon clearing the overgrown tree boxes. Many of the tree boxes have been landscaped with
flowers and other plants that should be retained and we could use help in identifying the desired plants and in identifying the removable weeds,
particularly for the lower 14th Street areas. Please contact Scott Pomeroy at 202.550.0769 if you are available. The following week they will begin to focus on removing graffiti and posters from the corridor, working in conjunction with the city to make a visible impact all along the corridor.
The program is designed to supplement existing efforts by DPW, merchants, property owners and residents not to replace those efforts. Merchants and commercial property owners are still legally responsible for the maintenance of the area in front of their businesses from the store front to 18² into the curb. The goal of the demonstration project is to raise awareness for the need of the services being provided and to raise funds to enable the program to expand to a year round program that would hire 24 full-time
workers and would be able to expand services into other neighborhood commercial districts. The expanded program will also include a two-day
hospitality, heritage and ambassador training program conducted by Cultural Tourism DC, a landscaping training program by UDC, and an school-based landscaping and heritage training program.
Learn more about this program and other projects and goals of the 14th & U Main Street Initiative at our 1st Annual Membership Meeting that will occur
on Monday, September 29th at the True Reformer Building at 1200 U Street, NW from 6:00 8:30.