Clean streets, clean curbs, and clean sidewalks make Lincoln Square a wonderful place to live, visit, shop, dine, and do business. The Lincoln Square BID’s Clean Team works diligently to keep the neighborhood looking its best.
Seven days a week, all year long, our dedicated Clean Team, contracted through Block by Block, keeps the district spotless. No matter the weather, the team empties and relines the district’s 118 trash cans and Big Belly solar-powered trash compacting and recycling receptacles. They also sweep the sidewalks going 18 inches from the curb into the street; scrub and wipe clean park benches, tables, and chairs; and tackle tough jobs like scrubbing away graffiti and repainting lampposts, parking meters, and street sign poles.
Area maintenance is a year-round effort, and in the winter months, our crew goes even further by helping with snow and ice removal. They shovel masses of heavy snow from crosswalks, catch basins, fire hydrants, bus shelters, and Lincoln Square’s 10 Broadway Mall crosswalks.
The BID also ensures that the 10 Broadway Malls in the district (from the north side of West 60th Street to the south side of West 70th Street) remain litter-free. Each weekday morning, a crew of Green Keepers hired through the Goddard Riverside Community Center, a wonderful local services organization, aids the Clean Team in maintaining the Malls. We’re proud of this partnership, which dates back to 1997.
Lincoln Square is one of the City’s most highly trafficked areas. Each year, over 26 million pedestrians use its sidewalks and public spaces. Consequently, the BID spends over 50% of its annual budget on maintenance and public improvements. Everyone in the neighborhood benefits from the hard work of Lincoln Square’s Clean Team.
Clean Team stats
- 118
- Trash receptacles cleaned and serviced daily
- 1,150
- tons of public litter bagged each year
- 215
- Lampposts / 167 parking meters / 137 street sign poles painted
- 93
- Fire hydrants and 76 catch basins cleared of snow during snow storms
- 250
- BID trash bags of public litter kept off of sidewalks daily by being deposited for collection in our 10 Citibins – rodent proof containers
The BID continually evaluates ways to improve its operations—that’s why we were early adopters of the NYC Department of Sanitation’s recycling bin program and the latest Clean Curbs Pilot Program. The Clean Curbs Pilot—which stores the BID’s trash bags filled with public litter for collection by DSNY in compact, rodent-proof containers, rather than on the sidewalk—has been a massive success in Lincoln Square. We now have 10 Citibins distributed across the district, which together keep up to 250 BID trash bags of public litter off the street per day.
