Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's time to clean the streets and neighborhoods in the City of Buffalo!
Along with a number of volunteers and members of the Division of Citizen Services' Save Our Streets (SOS) Task Force in East Buffalo on Wednesday, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown helped kick off the 2023 Clean Sweep season.
Clean Sweep is an impactful initiative and collaboration in the City of Buffalo that brings together City departments with various County, State and Federal governments, not for profit and private agencies - including health and human service providers - and volunteers from local businesses and universities to fight the war on blight and crime in the community by bringing important resources to neighborhoods that need them most.
"What you will learn here today is that Clean Sweeps go throughout all of the City's districts, and we use information and data that we get from 311 calls. We use social economic data, and we pinpoint those communities that are in need, or who need to make sure we needed to be connected," said Oswaldo Mestre, Chief Service Officer and Director of Citizen Services. "We take all City departments, we take different levels of government, both from the State and from the County, and different human service agencies and volunteers. It's really this collective effort, this cross-sector collaboration that really makes a difference within this community. All of that, combined with the love and the tenderness of caring for our neighbors, is what Clean Sweep is all about."
The Clean Sweep program was created during the Anthony Masiello administration, and was since expanded under Mayor Brown's administration as part of his continued commitment to work constantly to further improve neighborhoods citywide.
This year's Clean Sweep will keep a laser-sharp focus on equitable restorative engagement within the City of Buffalo, with each weekly sweep taking place in neighborhoods with challenges that have been identified by using data-driven, innovative methodologies, including 311 calls and more.
The 2023 Clean Sweep kick off comes just days before the one-year mark of the May 14 attack at the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue in East Buffalo. Mayor Brown says this year's Clean Sweep event is another showing of how the community has persevered in the face of adversity.
"As we begin Clean Sweep season 2023, we are in a week where we're about to recognize a very somber anniversary, a very tragic period in the life of our City. Probably the darkest day in the history of our City, 5/14. In the aftermath of 5/14, this community pulled together in amazing ways," said Mayor Brown on Wednesday. "You showed the strength of this community, the resilience of this community, and the love that the people of this community have for each other. And as Mayor of the City of Buffalo, I couldn't be prouder of the members of this community in the way that the community pulled together."
Among the number of volunteers taking part in Wednesday's Clean Sweep festivities includes members of the Tops family, including some members of the Jefferson Avenue location.
"We are approaching the 5/14 Remembrance Weekend, where we will remember, reflect on those precious lives that were taken, those that were injured, and those that survived. We will look to the future, though, for how we continue to work together and stay together to build up our community, and make this community stronger than it ever has been before," Mayor Brown said. "We have not, and we will not forget East Buffalo. We will not forget the Jefferson Avenue community. And we're glad to see so many in the Tops family that are with us today. We know that Tops Jefferson is Jefferson Strong."
Over the next six months, under the leadership of Mestre, the City of Buffalo SOS Task Force will conduct 34 "sweeps" and address issues on thousands of properties. By the end of the season, they will have completed over 430 sweeps since 2006.
"We'll be doing these Clean Sweeps and every Councilmatic District, all nine Councilmatic Districts. We'll be doing, at least, 30 Clean Sweeps this season in 2023. We will, as we go into these neighborhoods, trim trees, clean sewer receivers, replace broken street signs. Some cases, if necessary, we will clean and board vacant homes. Fortunately, vacant structures are way down from where they were when I started [as Mayor] in 2006. Back in 2006, we inherited over 5,000 vacant structures in the City of Buffalo. They were unsalvageable. Now we're under 50 of those structures in the City of Buffalo."
Other services the SOS Task Force will offer regarding essential quality of life services to residents throughout the 2023 Clean Sweep season includes:
- Dental services
- Health insurance enrollment
- Homeless outreach
- Fire prevention education
- Disaster preparedness
- Mental health services
- Youth and senior programming information
- Employment and training referrals
- Removing debris and abandoned tires
- Filling potholes
- Offering 311 information to assist in addressing neighborhood complaints
More from Wednesday's press conference is available in the player below:
