De Blasio: New FDR-inspired 'Cleanup Corps' will create 10K jobs, 'revitalize' city
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York City has launched a "New Deal-inspired" cleanup program that will create 10,000 new jobs and bolster the five boroughs' pandemic recovery, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.
The "City Cleanup Corps," which is modeled after former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's post-Great Depression "Civilian Conservation Corps," will comprise approximately 10,000 cleanup-centric jobs in agencies including the Department of Parks & Recreation, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Protection, the mayor said in a press release.
The city plans to hire 1,000 Corps members this month, followed by more than 7,700 in July, the release said.
All of the jobs will involve "revitalizing New York City's public spaces and neighborhoods, beautifying parks and green spaces, and bringing art to the city's open spaces," according to the release.
"This will include a citywide graffiti removal campaign, pressure washing sidewalks, designing murals, tending to community gardens and maintaining Open Streets," the release noted.
In a statement, de Blasio said the program would "deliver the kind of recovery that New Yorkers deserve" post-COVID-19 pandemic.
"In 1993, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt built the nation's economic recovery by improving infrastructure, putting Americans back to work and restoring civic pride in our public spaces," he said. "Today, New York City is leading the way in doing it again."
"Building a recovery for all of us means creating thousands and thousands of jobs that will make our city a safer and more beautiful place to live, work and play," he added.
