BATON ROUGE, LA — October 17, 2018 — Today, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced the results of the October installment of Operation Fresh Start, the mayor’s parish-wide litter abatement and beautification campaign. Operation Fresh Start kicked off on Saturday, October 6, with a community clean-up effort. From Monday, October 8, through Friday, October 12, East Baton Rouge Public Works crews aggressively cleared litter and blight throughout the parish.

This month’s Operation Fresh Start produced the following results:

• 842 trash bags of litter collected and picked up
• 314,240 lbs of trash and debris collected and disposed
• 1,210 illegally dumped tires collected and brought to the landfill
• 44 potholes filled throughout the parish
• 14,000 lbs of broken concrete collected and disposed
• 127 illegally placed signs removed from the public right-of-way
• 262 service requests closed in the City-Parish 311 system
• 3 downed trees removed
• 3 blighted houses demolished

Crews mowed the downtown levee, removed litter from the Corporation Canal at the Baton Rouge Beach, and cleaned and mowed medians at the following intersections: Perkins/Essen, Chippewa Street, Mohican Street, and Evangeline Street.

The state's Department of Transportation and Drainage (DOTD) participated in Operation Fresh Start by sweeping and removing debris along Interstate 10, including ramps and shoulders and the I-10 bridge. Crews conducted cleaning along I-110, including spraying of weeds growing in the concrete medians, removal of trees and limbs blocking signs along I-110, litter removal at Chippewa/Mohican/Wheeler Street on/off ramps, and removal of limbs encroaching onto the Chippewa/Mohican/Wheeler Street on/off ramps. In the downtown area, DOTD conducted weed eating, spraying, and cutting anything growing in the concrete or over the rails.

“Quality of place and beautification of our community are hallmarks of my administration,” said Mayor Broome. “We are continuing to see a groundswell of business and community support in these cleanup events. Dedicating public works resources toward aggressive and focused cleanups is another way we can make a visible change in the appearance of our city and parish. I look forward to more joint community beautification efforts that will ultimately change the culture of litter in East Baton Rouge Parish.”

The next installment of Operation Fresh Start will take place in the first quarter of 2019.