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Mayor Lurie Announces New Partnership to Keep San Francisco Streets Clean, Revitalize Commercial Corridors
05/27/2025
[ Article originally appeared in www.sf.gov ]
Mayor Daniel Lurie launched a new neighborhood improvement initiative in partnership with Avenue Greenlight to deliver increased neighborhood street cleaning along high-traffic commercial corridors. This initiative, backed by $3 million in funding from Avenue Greenlight, marks another major step by Mayor Lurie to deliver safe, clean streets and drive the city’s economic recovery. Developed with the support of San Francisco Public Works, the new partnership will expand on the city’s existing street cleaning operations and enhance vibrancy of San Francisco’s neighborhoods, downtown, and commercial corridors. Mayor Lurie has made clean and safe streets a key focus of his administration and has taken bold steps to revitalize downtown and support the city’s small businesses. This week, the mayor delivered on key pieces of PermitSF, reforming the city’s permitting process and cutting red tape for small businesses and homeowners. Last week, he signed legislation establishing five new entertainment zones across the city and launched another in the Castro, activating public spaces and revitalizing neighborhoods. Alongside his Breaking the Cycle plan to transform the city’s response to the homelessness and behavioral health crisis, Mayor Lurie has created the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Hospitality Zone Task Force to improve public safety and street conditions downtown 365 days a year and unveiled his “Rebuilding the Ranks” plan to fully staff the SFPD and Sheriff's Office. “Clean streets are key to our comeback. When our streets are cared for and vibrant, people come out and spend time in their neighborhoods,” said Mayor Lurie. “I’m excited to launch this partnership with Avenue Greenlight, working hand-in-hand with San Francisco Public Works and our communities. This additional investment in street cleanliness will help us continue to breathe life into our commercial corridors, bolstering our recovery and reinforcing what we all know: San Francisco is worth investing in.” Currently, San Francisco Public Works operates a suite of street cleaning and maintenance programs designed to keep the city’s neighborhoods clean, safe, resilient and welcoming. These initiatives include CleanCorridorsSF, a weekly deep-cleaning operation that dispatches cleanings crews to commercial corridors across the city to power wash sidewalks, remove graffiti, flush roadways, and engage with local businesses to promote ongoing cleanliness. Additional programs include the Block Sweepers initiative that employs street cleaners to clean over 700 blocks in busy commercial areas, mechanical street sweepers that cover a collective 150,000 miles of curbside lanes annually to remove litter and leaves, and other proactive operations that deliver courtesy daily steam cleaning, graffiti abatement, and trash-removal operations downtown and in other impacted neighborhoods. The city has long collaborated with external partners in neighborhoods like Union Square, the Tenderloin, the Castro, South of Market, and Civic Center to supplement the city’s cleaning, beautification, and public safety efforts. This work includes partnerships with Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) to provide dedicated street ambassadors and cleaning crews, especially in high-foot traffic commercial corridors, to respond to residents and merchants in real time and perform daily sidewalk sweeping, graffiti removal, and litter pick-up beyond the city’s baseline services. This public-private partnership model allows for more responsive, neighborhood-specific maintenance strategies, contributing to a cleaner, safer, and more vibrant city. The new power-washing program funded by Avenue Greenlight will build on those partnerships in high-traffic areas in neighborhoods across San Francisco, including the Mission, Sunset, Tenderloin, Richmond, Chinatown, North Beach, and Fillmore. Each neighborhood will receive a tailored cleaning plan implemented by Civic Method, including deep steam sanitation, recurring maintenance, and real-time community reporting. Building on existing street cleaning services performed by San Francisco Public Works, the new power washing program will add coverage during critical afternoon and early evening hours, which is consistently requested by local merchants across San Francisco. “San Francisco's entrepreneurs and small business owners work hard to take care of their stores, restaurants, and offices. They deserve that same level of care on the sidewalks and streets that surround them,” said District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. “This program from Avenue Greenlight will be transformative in making our neighborhoods sparkle and creating clean, welcoming corridors for businesses to thrive and shoppers to enjoy.” “Ensuring safe, clean streets for our residents is a top priority,” said District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. “This investment from Avenue Greenlight to provide additional street cleaners in the Tenderloin and Fillmore neighborhoods is a meaningful step toward that goal.” "It's refreshing to have a mayor who doesn’t just talk about clean streets, but takes real leadership by investing in deep cleaning. For years, merchants and residents across the Sunset and throughout the city have called for cleaner neighborhoods,” said District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio. “Thanks to Mayor Daniel Lurie's support, we’re going to create the right conditions for our mom-and-pop businesses to thrive.” “Avenue Greenlight is excited to create this citywide private-public partnership to improve daily life for San Franciscans. We hope that this catalyzes more partnerships between the public and private sectors to better our great city,” said Maryo Mogannam, President of Avenue Greenlight. “We hope to inspire the citizens of San Francisco to be equal stakeholders in keeping our sidewalks clean for everyone.” “I’m proud of San Francisco and the people who make up this world-class city. Maintaining a healthy right of way is key to our collective success,” said Chris Larsen, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Ripple, Inc. “We started Avenue Greenlight as a collaborative response to the COVID-19 pandemic and soon realized that resources go the furthest when you put them directly in the hands of the community stakeholders who are on the ground and know how to use them best. I call on all of our action-oriented and pragmatic-minded neighbors to join me in stepping up to invest in this town.” “Keeping our streets clean, safe, and inviting is fundamental for any vibrant city,” said Christian Martin, CEO and Co-Founder of Civic Method. “Our company is proud of our collaboration with the city and community-first organizations like Avenue Greenlight—together, we will deliver responsive and innovative services for locals and visitors alike.” “While our street cleaning crews are on the ground every day, around the clock, working hard and making a difference, we know it takes a team to keep San Francisco clean—city workers, community benefit districts, residents, merchants, civic groups. It takes all of us,” said Carla Short, Director of San Francisco Public Works. “This generous and consequential investment by Avenue Greenlight allows us to leverage more resources with the collective goal of making our dynamic neighborhoods even more welcoming for everyone to enjoy.”
“The Mission Merchants Association is deeply grateful that the Mission District will receive this much-needed support. While not all areas are impacted equally, it is a general reality that parts of our neighborhood struggle with sanitation and cleanliness," said Ryen Motzek, President of the Mission Street Merchants. “This effort meaningfully addresses that challenge and helps move the district closer to a cleaner, more welcoming environment. We are confident that improvements to sidewalk conditions will lead to increased foot traffic and bring valuable support to our small business community.” Back To News |
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