Our Vision for a Clean Baltimore
A cleaner city is a more sustainable city. The degree to which a street, a neighborhood, or a city is kept clean and well-maintained often indicates the level of investment, health, and pride present in that community. Conversely, a dirty street, neighborhood, or city gives the impression, either real or perceived, of neglect. This can lead to a decrease in property values, loss of tourism and business, a slump in community pride, and a fertile ground for crime and other destructive behavior.
Each year, the Baltimore City Bureau of Solid Waste spends more than $5 million on litter cleanup throughout the City. If everyone did their part to keep Baltimore clean, those tax dollars could be spent on improving our city in other ways. To put this into perspective, $5 million is enough to repair 905,000 potholes, or purchase 500,000 flu vaccines, 145,000 trees, or 265,000 school textbooks.
Baltimore City crews collect approximately 500,000 tons of debris and recycling from households and small businesses each year. Much of the garbage left for pick-up, however, is put out incorrectly, often in plastic bags in the street with no trash cans. Not only is this illegal, it invites rodents and leads to litter which ends up in our streets, storm drains, and waterways. Illegal dumping and non-compliance with sanitation codes pose health risks, pollute our environment, and have negative economic implications.
Rodents pose major public health threats in the form of bites, and disease transmission. Their gnawing creates holes which can expose electric wiring and causes property damage. Baltimore’s location on the water makes rodent infestation even more likely, however doing your part to keep the City clean and litter free can drastically reduce the presence of rodents in and around your community.
Litter and illegal dumping also affect our water quality. Storm drain systems designed to funnel rainfall and run-off into waterways, can become blocked by litter and debris. With this run-off can come a number of pollutants, most prominently trash and chemical waste, which end up untreated in our streams, lakes, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Fish, crabs, and other aquatic life can be poisoned, wildlife can be strangled, and oxygen levels in the water can decline dramatically, threatening marine life.
Dirty and littered places, as a result of illegal dumping and improper waste disposal, can also be an indicator of neighborhood decline and disorder. Perceptions of neighborhood neglect and disorder have real economic costs through decreases in property values and investment. Research has shown that clean public spaces are safer, and vice versa, “dirty” public places promote criminal behavior in that area. Dumping sites also serve as magnets for additional dumping and other criminal activities, further eroding the quality of life of the surrounding community.
Individuals are more likely to be compelled to be good stewards of the planet when their own immediate surroundings are clean and well-maintained. Baltimore has come a long way in cleaning up our city; we practice single stream recycling, take service complaints seriously and address them immediately, and have maintain more public trash cans across the City. This progress is hopeful, yet there is still room to improve the cleanliness of our community as we begin creating a more sustainable Baltimore.
Cleanliness Goal 1
Eliminate litter throughout the City
Like many big cities in the United States, Baltimore has too much litter in its streets, neighborhoods, public spaces, storm drains, waterways, and elsewhere throughout our community. It is difficult to motivate individuals to take actions affecting more global environmental threats when the space directly around them is dirtied with litter. Litter is an expensive problem – it lowers property values, it is expensive to clean, it detracts from tourism, and it endangers the water quality and aquatic life that Baltimore depends on. To address this problem, Mayor Dixon launched the CleanerGreener Baltimore initiative which leverages public-private partnerships and challenges the entire Baltimore community to join in the fight against litter: “Don’t Make Excuses, Make a Difference.”
Strategy A: Educate residents and businesses about proper trash storage and disposal
Distribute a clear, concise, and consistent message about proper waste disposal in the City of Baltimore through a variety of outlets to all businesses, institutions, and individuals. Make this message available in multiple languages and locations so that it reaches all sections of the population.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Education
- Funding Source: CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative
- Lead Partners: Department of Public Works (DPW), CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative partners
Strategy B: Expand existing programs to maximize public trash and recycling bin use
Provide receptacles at locations most convenient for citizens to increase trash and recycling bin use. DPW has placed an additional 1050+ trash cans at bus stops and gateways over the last two years. In addition, DPW is initiating a pilot program to place recycling bins around the Inner Harbor. This pilot will help determine how best to expand the placement of recycling bins throughout the city.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Policy/Operations
- Funding Source: CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative
- Lead Partners: DPW, Friends of Patterson Park, Baltimore Waterfront Partnership
Strategy C: Launch a social marketing campaign to change the public’s attitude toward litter
Implement the “Don’t Make Excuses. Make a Difference” campaign through the CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative. The campaign, designed to deter casual and intentional littering as well as improper trash disposal, will educate city residents, commuters, and tourists about the city’s litter problem and cause citizens to recognize that litter is their problem to solve. The campaign promotes behavioral change as a way to create a cleaner, greener Baltimore.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Education
- Funding Source: CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative
- Lead Partners: CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative, Planit, Media (WBAL), Baltimore Community Foundation
Cleanliness Goal 2
Sustain a clean and maintained appearance of public land
Baltimore has over 6,000 acres of parkland and 30,000 vacant lots to manage with very little revenue. Creative, cost effective methods of land management are needed to meet this challenge, including both government and citizen organizational capacity building, education and training. Land that is well maintained and cared for raises the value of surrounding properties. Where this land is managed with community support, there is the added benefit of social interaction and additional community stabilization.
Strategy A: Establish city-wide maintenance standards for publicly owned land
Require all agencies maintaining public land to complete a formal operations strategy and manual outlining the timing, processes and procedures for maintenance of all types of public spaces under their control.
- Timeframe: Mid-Term
- Type: Policy/Operations
- Funding Source: Existing Program Funds
- Lead Partners: All agencies involved in land and building maintenance
Strategy B : Build capacity of existing city maintenance staff through training and education
Create and require training programs regarding proper care of green spaces, mowing techniques, and other programs for all relevant employees to increase effectivness and efficiency.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Policy/Operations
- Funding Source: Existing Program Funds
- Lead Partners :All agencies involved in land and building maintenance
Strategy C : Expand adoption and community stewardship of public land
Provide technical assistance and guidance to community groups caring for public parks and develop Partnership Agreements with committed groups, providing tools, services, and support in exchange for long-term park stewardship.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Policy/Operations
- Funding Source: Grant Programs; Partnerships; City Funds
- Lead Partners:Department of Recreation and Parks (DRP); Parks and People Foundation, Community Groups
Cleanliness Goal 3
Transform vacant lots from liabilities to assets that provide social and environmental benefits
There are nearly 30,000 abandoned properties in Baltimore City. Vacant lots can become targets of illegal dumping and litter, leading to an overall perception of neighborhood neglect. These lots can be transformed into useful community spaces either through redevelopment or the creation and maintenance of open space. The proposed Baltimore Land Bank will be charged with efficiently acquiring, managing and selling abandoned property for productive use. One of the Land Bank’s goals is to reduce the amount of privately - owned abandoned and blighted property in Baltimore City to less than 7.5% of the overall total of properties by 2012.
Strategy A: Strengthen enforcement of dumping and litter laws
Increase the effectiveness of existing dumping law enforcement. A communication and education strategy is underway to increase use of the Baltimore City free 311 hotline for citizens to call and report dumping and littering. The Sanitation and Code Enforcement Division, which is responsible for enforcement of these laws, was recently reorganized and restructured within the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to increase efficiency while making it more accessible to Baltimore residents.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Policy/Operations
- Funding Source: Existing Program Funds
- Lead Partners: HCD, Police Department
Strategy B: Increase participation in community maintenance and stewardship efforts
Leverage the success of the current maintenance and clean-up effort to engage more communities and organizations and increase the frequency and regularity of these opportunities. The CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative and the Department of Recreation and Parks (DR&P), sponsor neighborhood pitch-ins, park maintenance programs and twice yearly community clean-ups. By supplying tools, supplies, and collection services, the City partners with community, environmental, and faith-based organizations to clean and help maintain their neighborhoods. To date, more than 100 community organizations have participated.
- Timeframe: Short-term
- Type: Partnerships
- Funding Source: CleanerGreener Baltimore Initiative, Grant Programs
- Lead Partners: DPW, DR&P, Community organizations
Strategy C: Create and sustain a land trust to support community-managed open space
Develop and support a land trust to help communities retain ownership of appropriate open space for a given period of time upon their commitment to maintain the space. There are numerous examples of vacant lots throughout the city that have been adopted and rehabilitated by the neighboring community for recreation, gardening, and other beneficial uses. This strategy will provide a legal safeguard to allow communities to retain these assets.
- Timeframe: Ongoing
- Type: Partnerships
- Funding Source: Grant Programs
- Lead Partners: Baltimore Green Space, Baltimore Office of Sustainability (BOS), HCD
Strategy D: Return abandoned properties to productive use
Expedite the return of the roughly 10,000 vacant properties which the City owns to productive use through the Baltimore Land Bank. This strategy will streamline the process for selling city property by reducing redundant approvals, providing flexibility in recruiting and hiring professional staff and vendors, adopting sales policies and priorities with input from various stakeholders, and reducing the time needed for consolidating development parcels.
- Timeframe: Mid-term
- Type: Policy/Operations
- Funding Source: Funding Analysis Needed
- Lead Partners: Baltimore Land Bank Advisory Board
Strategy E: Establish a new fee schedule charged to absent property owners
Levy a fee on absent property owners to cover the costs of maintaining their vacant, privately-owned lots similar to the aggressive fee schedules established by other cities to cover the costs of maintenance of vacant lots. The fees raised from these programs will be used to assure regular maintainance and provide a disincentive for holding the unused lots.
- Timeframe: Short term
- Type: Legislative
- Funding Source: Self Funded
- Lead Partners: City Government