Advisory board backs $400,000 recommendation to keep downtown cleaning pilot funded

The CBSD advisory board reviewed a year‑end report on a downtown street‑cleaning pilot and approved a draft recommendation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen asking that the district budget be set at about $400,000 for the next fiscal year.

The recommendation, which the board approved by voice vote, follows a pilot that began July 1 and was partly funded this year by $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds the Board of Mayor and Aldermen previously approved. Board members said the $400,000 figure is intended as an inflation adjustment to sustain the current service level while staff and the advisory board pursue additional funding sources.

Jody (role not specified) presented the year‑end report and asked members to focus on the cumulative July–December numbers. She reported that the street team collected 2,747 55‑gallon bags of trash (estimated at roughly 25–30 pounds per bag), removed more than 1,000 hypodermic needles, collected 323 cans of Naloxone (Narcan), removed about 820 stickers from poles and boxes, documented about 950 block faces for pressure washing when…