Parks reports hours and volunteer counts for Pearl Street; city to pilot BigBelly trash cans on 'the Hill'

Denise Dawson, senior urban parks manager for Parks and Recreation, told the Downtown Management Commission on Jan. 14 that Pearl Street Mall required concentrated maintenance in 2024 and provided staff time estimates for routine work and reactive responses.

Dawson said park staff logged roughly 715 hours on irrigation work for the four-block mall and about 1,788 hours on horticulture tasks including planting, pruning and weeding. She said staff spent approximately 1,580 hours on trash pickup and surface cleaning, and that crews completed 23 snow shifts last winter. Parks reported installing or refurbishing 53 benches on the mall, replacing two drinking fountains and maintaining 70 hanging flower baskets. Volunteer activity included 50 volunteers who together contributed about 150 hours on flower planting.

Why it matters: Pearl Street is the downtown’s highest-visited site; Parks said PlaceR AI data counted roughly 1.6 million visitors to the mall last year and that average visitor dwell time was about 1 hour, 16 minutes. The level of concentrated maintenance reflects the site’s heavy use.

Dawson said Parks coordinates with downtown ambassadors, Block by Block, and other teams to respond to graffiti, vandalism and safety hazards; Parks recorded 115 reactive maintenance requests last year (not including forestry requests handled by a separate unit).

Trash-can pilot: Community Vitality staff told the commission the city plans to install a pilot set of BigBelly compressed solar trash cans on the Hill. Staff said deliveries will begin within the next three weeks and the pilot will test durability and user response before considering wider rollout downtown. The new cans include foot-pedal or automatic opening to reduce direct contact with lids.

Commissioners asked about volunteer community-service programs and partnerships. Parks and staff said the city works with Ready to Work and other groups that provide regular crews for trash removal, snow mitigation and related tasks on a recurring schedule.

The Parks report and trash-can pilot are part of broader downtown maintenance and asset-management conversations that staff said they are coordinating across Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Community Vitality to simplify reporting and clarify maintenance responsibilities across departmental boundaries.