Clean & Safe Program in Downtown Richmond, VA

Through the Clean & Safe partnership, the city outsources downtown sidewalk cleaning services to Venture Richmond, who in turn contracts with Community Business Group, LTD (CBG). CBG has been operating the Clean & Safe team downtown for 23 years. Their services include picking up litter, leaves and debris from sidewalks, weed eradication, steam cleaning homeless waste spots and removing handbills in Richmond’s General Service District, comprised of about 440 square blocks on the north side of the river and roughly 82 square blocks on the south side of the river.

The goal of this Venture Richmond program is to keep Downtown Richmond clean and safe. The business community and downtown neighborhoods support the program, its effectiveness and responsiveness. Residents, businesses, employees and visitors benefit from the service and a cleaner and safer downtown.

Richmond’s Downtown General Special Service and Assessment District, comprised of about 440 square blocks on the north side of the river, is provided with Clean and Safe enhanced services (sidewalk cleaning, litter and leaf collection, tree well maintenance, weed eradication, etc.) as a part of their special assessment.

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In 2023, Clean & Safe:

• 623,000 gallons of litter, 798 cubic yards of leaves and tons of weeds removed from 440 blocks
• 28,000 hours of sidewalk cleaning
• 260 planters and hanging baskets, 83 blocks beautified downtown
• 3,524 seasonal plants installed in spring and fall along Broad, Grace, 3rd and 5th Streets
• 186 handbills removed
• 686 graffiti tags removed
• 69,000 sf of power washing of sidewalks in Shockoe Slip

Property and business owners in Manchester worked with their neighborhood organizations and Venture Richmond from 2021-2023 on a plan to expand the Downtown General Special Service and Assessment District into Manchester to fund enhanced services and improvements to an 80-block area. On July 17, 2023, Venture Richmond and the City of Richmond held a press conference highlighting those expanded services and the launch of the Clean and Safe program. ​The enhanced services include items like providing consistent sidewalk cleaning, litter pick-up, leaf removal, and weed control and elimination and enhancing and maintaining tree wells. It also includes power washing homeless hotspots, as needed, distributing pet waste bags in key pet locations, removing pet waste from sidewalks and from tree wells.

In 2023, Clean & Safe:

• 55,000 gallons of litter, 36 cubic yards of leaves and lots of weeds removed from 330 blocks
• 1,000 hours of sidewalk cleaning
• 23 handbills removed
• 61 graffiti tags removed
• 150 tree wells mulched

Our beautification projects include nearly 5,000 plants annually:

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155 planters:

• 91 planters in 3rd and 5th Street gateway area
• 35 planters on Broad Street between 8th and 10th Street
• 28 Broad Street planters relocated to Coliseum area

5 medians:

• 2 blocks of Broad Street medians between Foushee to 1st Street
• 3rd Street median
• 12th and Canal median
• 14th and Dock Street median

Hanging flower baskets and more:

• 126 hanging baskets installed along Broad Street from Belvidere to 12th Street in the Arts District and in the Shockoe neighborhood
• 13 planting beds on 400 block of E. Grace Street
• 300+ annuals planted along the Canal Walk and around the Headman Statue on Brown’s Island

Venture Richmond has also boosted its efforts to keep Downtown clean. Following damages that occurred to businesses during protests in 2020, Venture Richmond and CBG launched a new Graffiti Cleaning Pilot Program as part of Clean & Safe. In 2022, 224 graffiti tags were removed from street signs, light poles, buildings and alleyways.

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Property owners and businesses in the Downtown Service District area can request help removing graffiti by emailing graffitiremoval@venturerichmond.com.

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In 2023

• 15,000 sf of graffiti inventoried on Broad Street Corridor properties
• 50 properties cleaned - some repeatedly - along Broad Street between Belvidere and 5th Street including some side streets such as E. Grace and E. Marshall Streets
• $75,000 leveraged through a partnership with the City of Richmond Department of Public Works
• 1 minority-owned business, Johnny on the Spot, served as vendor to remove graffiti

Venture Richmond is committed to a beautiful Richmond, VA by engaging businesses and community leaders to enhance the vitality of Downtown. We work with local companies on street cleaning, graffiti, beautification and placemaking with the intention of making Downtown Richmond a more clean and safe place to be.

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