Baltimore to hire residents to clean and maintain public spaces
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baltimorefishbowl.comPosted Aug 4, 2022, 11:01 PM UTC
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baltimorefishbowl.comGreat news!
Baltimore will hire community members to clean and maintain public spaces as part of an initiative that will be supported by $14.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
As part of the new “Clean Corps” initiative, the mayor’s office will work with local community and citywide organizations to hire community members for beautification work. Once hired, community members will remove debris from alleyways, public trash cans, and vacant lots in up to 15 historically disinvested neighborhoods.
The neighborhoods that will be cleaned will be selected based on a number of factors, including highest number of service request calls; highest decrease in population; and highest number of privately owned vacant lots, according to city officials.
The Clean Corps initiative is expected to last for two-and-a-half years, but the city will continue to pursue further funding to expand the program.
More details in the article
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I wish they would pay cash at the end of each shift, or even a check. Just make it so people don’t have to wait to get paid after working. Would encourage more people to participate.
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It depends on how they’re hired. If they’re full time they might be eligible for benefits and so it would be more beneficial to do it normally vs. how many independent contractors are paid. The article isn’t clear though.
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Does anyone know where someone can sign up to help? I've been picking up trash on my block, would love to expand and do this with others!
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Sorry I made a different post before I saw this one. We do the same thing in my neighborhood, so my friend sent me the details. It's only in certain neighborhoods. I put the map of neighborhoods in the other post.
edit: link to the other post with the neighborhoods and application details. https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/wgh936/from_the_baltimore_office_of_sustainability_fb/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
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I hope they hire some of the squeegee boys to do this.
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they do not want a schedule or have to report to anyone, zero shot.
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That's a generalization. I know some squeegee guys have been hired to work steady jobs; mostly in the hotel industry.
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I hope they pay better than recreation and parks.
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Good move!
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This is awesome 👍
I'll be curious to see if $15/hr is enough, given that it's not the top paying option but it is guaranteed!
The other point someone here made is that getting paid at the end of a shift would be huge as opposed to any less frequent schedule, but I didn't notice a pay schedule in the article.
The 3rd question is whether this opens other opportunities, directly or indirectly (which only matters in the long term). If people find over time that they start to have a more reliable option (since cleaning up isn't and end, especially with a 2ish year initial end) then that might further encourage people to explore this option.
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All I wanted was trash cans in my neighborhood. Hopefully there will be real action.
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Would be awesome to find community partners (grocery stores, restaurants, sports teams, etc.) that provide discounts and freebies for workers involved in this program.
Building a sense of pride in neighborhoods and communities could play a big part in solving lots of other, loosely connected problems.
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This sounds like an excellent alternative employment opportunity for a group of young city residents that have been in the news recently.
So long as they compete with the 20+ an hour the squeegee boys and panhandlers make as is. Which I really hope they do.
Source: road construction worker who's watched a "homeless" person take home more in a day than I do before loosing the limp and walking to his rowhome on North Ave.
What kind of a construction worker are you if the panhandler is making more then you?
A Civil Engineering intern at the time. $17/hr, but go ahead.
Welcome to construction <3
Prevailing wage for some labor positions is still under $20/hr.
Entry level "project engineers", degreed construction managers, are at a 55-60k salary at a lot of companies. 21ish an hour take home.
I'm a Construction PM, prevailing wage (scale) in Maryland for a laborer is $20.65 per hour. The difference is that construction workers get benefits, advancement, educational support. Maybe they eventually get up to a licensed mechanic position at $40-$50 per hour.
My community ran a clean up program like this years ago. They paid the kids $15 per hour (again years ago) plus the kids got into a job program so they eventually worked in offices or construction etc at a lot more than $15. I don't know what the kids working in offices made. It was more than $15 per hour. The kid who worked in my office said he made " a couple hundred a day" on the corners.
One who’s story doesn’t check out
A Civil Engineering intern at the time. $17/hr, but go ahead.
Welcome to construction <3
Prevailing wage for some labor positions is still under $20/hr today, but I was talking about wayyyy back in 2019 I guess.
Want me to DM paystubs?
Entry level "project engineers", degreed construction managers, are at a 55-60k salary at most companies. 21ish an hour.
You clearly don't know shit lmfao
We made friends with the "limping" homeless guy who had a family that would come check on him 3-4 times a year. Hed disappear for a few days and come back shaven with new clothes. One crutch that he'd lean on all day long, then carry in one hand as he went home. Im definitley making it up tho....
u/Otto_Von_Bisquick has a habit of minding my fcuking business, because they are obsessed with me. Do you like me? Do you wanna date me? Because you seem to be keeping tabs on me.
You must be a expert on me then. Loser. Next time tag me pu$$y now speak on that.
It only pays $15 per hour. I think it's a great idea but that pay is low. I don't know any squeegee kids willing to work for that. I can't imagine asking them to work for 4 hours cleaning up piles of dumped trash for $60.
Maybe I'm OOTL here, but why is the city hiring people to pick up trash at minimum wage even a news story?
Don't most cities have municipal employees doing just that? Didn't we have street cleaners before, too?
If I'm reading the article correctly, neighborhood associations will hire residents to clean neighborhoods. This is very different from a city-wide organization with employees from all over that dispatches crews to neighborhoods on a schedule.
Increasing services with American Rescue Plan funds is also newsworthy on its own, IMO.
A lot of neighborhoods did it on their own. We had homeless people and teens cleaning the streets for years in my area. I think it's news only because there is a press release from the Mayor's office about it. And the city wants people to know how some of the federal money is being spent.
Exactly. They take home more than $15 hour as it is.
It just won't work until it's actually better for them to get a "real job"....saying that with the least animosity as possible.
Well, seeing as there are already laws on the books prohibiting the squeegeeing, if the city actually enforced those laws and started arresting squeegee workers whenever they could I'd imagine the $15/hour would start to look a lot more attractive
That's more than dpw was advertising jobs for CDL drivers
I don't know why those kids even need to work in the first place since they so clearly already live rent free in ya'll heads lol.