BATON ROUGE, LA — July 8, 2019 — Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced today the next installment of Operation Fresh Start is set for Saturday, July 20, 2019. The Saturday community-led clean-up and beautification events are followed by a week of City-Parish DPW crews focusing on clearing trash, cutting grass, eliminating blight, and improving corridors throughout the parish.
“Improving the cleanliness and appearance of East Baton Rouge Parish is tied to every aspect of the quality of life for our citizens,” said Mayor-President Broome. “The quality of place of our community impacts our daily lives – it influences economic development, it impacts our drainage systems, it affects safety. The reality is that doing these cleanups as a community is a part of transforming the culture of litter. I want to continue growing Operation Fresh Start to reach every area of our parish because this is an issue that is so important to our citizens.”
Citizens interested in volunteering to pick up litter and help beautify East Baton Rouge during the Saturday, July 20 community cleanup can sign up now here. Currently, there are eight designated clean-up locations.
Clean-ups begin at 8 am and end at 11 am. Volunteers will be provided with clean-up supplies such as gloves, trash bags, and litter-grabbers courtesy of a partnership with the non-profit Keep Baton Rouge Beautiful.
Citizens interested in leading a cleanup and beautification effort in their neighborhood or community are encouraged to “Embrace A Place” by signing up to serve as a site lead here. Site lead volunteers are asked to designate a cleanup area and a meetup location for volunteers.
Operation Fresh Start is part of Broome’s comprehensive strategy to improve the quality of place and combat blight in East Baton Rouge Parish. The effort was kicked off in 2018 and is held quarterly at various locations throughout East Baton Rouge Parish. Since its start, Operation Fresh Start has yielded the following results for the community:
- Disposal of over 400 tons of trash and debris from our community
- Removal of over 6,300 illegally dumped tires
- Removal of over 3,100 bags of litter
- 171 potholes filled
- Removal of over 34,000 lbs of broken concrete
- Removal of 140 illegally placed signs