Residential Street Sweeping Program Press Conference

alrighty did everyone get a chance to check out the street sweepers well hopefully you'll get to do that after afterwards well thanks everyone for joining us for this very exciting day in Prince George's County I'm Allison Wilson director of The Office of communications for Prince George's County executive Angela also Brooks and we are so pleased to launch our new countywide street sweeping initiative today which you're going to hear all about in just a minute a few housekeeping notes first though for members of the media we will have time for you to speak with the county executive and everyone else you hear speaking today after the conclusion of the program you've probably also noticed that we have members of the community here residents who will soon see sweepers in their neighborhoods so we hope yes let's clap for that yeah so we certainly encourage you to spend some time talking to them as well um so earlier this year in advance of a meeting um in Riverdale my office produced a small booklet that highlighted the Investments and the work of the also Brooks Administration on storm water management infrastructure development and improvements and one statistic that the Department of Public Works and transportation sent over that jumped out at me in a section about reducing sediment and trash in our drains and channels was that the County's office of storm drain maintenance had cleaned more than 74,000 linear feet of storm drain pipe and 29,600 linear feet of roadside drainage ditches in the 2023 fiscal year so I did the math and that is the length of 299 Northwest stadiums recently known as FedEx field so here we are today right adding to our County's commitment to infrastructure resilience with this new program which is critical to Source reduction tackling the cleanup of litter and other debris before it can even reach our drainage ditches an important complement to the amazing work already underway by this Administration so now you're going to hear all about it starting with our Visionary and amazing County Executive Angela also Brooks followed by Michael Johnson our director of Public Works and transportation then Carol Jones from the suland civic association uh director of the Department of the environment Andrea CRS Ruby stim from EOL Latinos Maryland state senator Nick Charles and Prince Georges county council member Sydney Harrison Madam County Executive well good morning everyone oh my goodness you sound a little bit it's so beautiful out here we can't can you muster just any more energy than that good morning okay there we go a little better I want to First say thank you so much to uh to Allison uh for uh for the introduction and for uh for bringing us all together today and how exciting it is for us to launch our new street sweeping program uh which really promises to do so much more than just clean our curbs um you know many years ago as I was coming into office um I said you know we need a street sweeping program we got to get out and make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep our community safe and I especially want to say thank you so much uh to our Department of Public Works and transportation director Michael Johnson thank you so much to director Johnson I also want to thank also our deputy chief administrative officer Floyd halt for his leadership and I would be remiss if I didn't say to ol Olu thank you so much uh for what they have done they are just doing really a marvelous job um as well as we have we're represented today uh by some of the team members who are you're going to see out in your community so you all give a round of applause please for the ladies and gentlemen uh from the Department of Public Works and transportation who are going to be really doing a great job um with this program want to just say thank you so much to to all of them as well um I know we also have director kro here want to say thank you so much to director KW for her leadership at the department of environment um and and so from the beginning we have really kept our eye on the issues and the priorities that matter most to Prince Georgians and our proud priorities represent our commitment to build and maintain a 21st century County government that makes life better for Prince georgean um our key priority has been beautification which means reducing litter and improving the health of our environment and to get this done you should know that we have invested uh tens of millions of dollars into programs and initiatives that clean up Prince George's County you know they say your budget reflects the priority and you will see in our budget we have spent millions and millions of dollars uh investing in beautification and cleaning our communities in addition to planting thousands of trees uh cleaning up tons of thousands of of tons of litter and partnering with civic-minded Prince Georgians across the county we've worked so hard to create a new residential street sweeping program this new program helps us to make major progress on key residents a problem that residents really care about it's it's litter uh now every time I talk about cleaning up I also have to take a moment to say something that I think is really important it's what I want you to repeat as well it is true that we are spending taxpayer dollars to beautify and I have to set that aside to clean up because those are two different concepts to clean up our community but I want us to remind our residents that litter does not grow like grass it just doesn't it's put there and it is my great desire that at some point we will be able to use your taxpayer dollars to tr to to not clean up after others we want people to really be engaged in it I should also thank Vice chair Sydney Harrison who is here today want to thank him and and and the councel for their leadership and for the tremendous work they've done and and the great Partners they have been um as well now it takes all of us working together being mindful of our community and our neighbors and yes even our families to stop litter there isn't a street sweeping program on Earth I have to tell you that can be effective unless we also do our part as community members so this new program goes so much further however uh than just cleaning up trash on Street our residential street sweeping program will also clean up County Roads and our Rivers at the same time we're launching the first phase of our new street sweeping program soon uh and it's on Tuesday September 3rd and I want to remind all of us to visit my pgc.pa.gov giving a lot of the feedback about this program and what you can do is enter your address and you will be able to see the full street sweeping schedule and this will help you to know when you need to move your car or your trash cans if streping if sweeping occurs on the same day as your trash collection um did I thank Senator Nick Charles Nick Charles Senator Nick Charles is here thank you so much uh as well senator now we're all familiar with street sweeping but did you know that this simple step can actually help protect our air quality waterways and even our homes according to the Environmental Protection Agency roadways accumulate pollutants that when combined with storm water impact water quality roadside litter and toxins on our streets can create a risk of flooding nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers and curbside litter can damage water quality in streams and rivers and so I wrote always drain into major bodies of water like the Anacostia the pomac and Chesapeake Bay so street sweeping activity it it actually removes these toxic pollutants from the environment minimizing the amount of pollutants that threaten our water so street sweeping also helps us to stop tracking roadside uh pollution from our shoes into our homes but not all street sweeping machines are created equal this is where Prince George's County comes in you're going to hear a great story in just a second here older style mechanical sweeping machines can actually reduce air quality and they fail to pick up smaller fine grain sediment that travels furthest so newer regenerative air cleaners can pick up very very small particles as small as 10 microns uh in diameter barely visible to the eye so this is where our leaders came into play they knew that not any old streets ER would do for Prince George's County I want you all to know that that we have the kind of leaders who took the time uh from public works and transportation a director Johnson and his team actually did the research and they acquired regenerative air cleaners which work to dislodge this fine dust from roadways and store it in a vacuum tank studies show that our new street sweeping machines are ideal for pollutant removal because most of the pollutants we want to keep out of the air out of our homes and our rivers are very small this new street sweeping uh program promises to deliver cleaner streets cleaner homes cleaner air rivers and streams across our County and our region and guess what we are just getting started so in Phase One we're targeting zones along the western side of Prince George's County but in phase two we'll continue to roll out our street sweeping program countywide we plan to begin phase two of our street sweeping program next spring so I want to just again thank everyone um everyone who's here today and most especially want to thank all the individuals who have been a part of of so much progress uh the street sweeping program is one that does enhance and benefit um our County where litter collection and beautification are concerned but we are also as a county a leader uh in the area of climate uh I want to thank again director KS and others we have so much now in terms of of the work that we're doing to keep our air clean to keep our water clean we know with our countywide Prince georgees has the only countywide composting program in the State uh we have so many uh really in so much Ingenuity and we are really breaking ground in so many areas we're a real leader so don't be surprised uh if others begin clo calling they want to know I'm sure about this regenerative air um machine that we're using and how and what our progress has been so thank thank you so much as well to all of our um leaders who are here today I see my favorites are here from suland want to thank them for being here today and thank you for all the leaders and all of the other um members who are here today and I guess next in the program uh I'm going to introduce director Michael Johnson uh to please come to the podium and would you all give him a round of applause he's done such an excellent job well it's a very exciting day finally street sweeping is coming for to residential street sweeping is coming to Prince George's County for the first time in 30 years and we have been working on this for more than a year putting this together so you know thank you for coming uh to be with us to for this preliminary roll out um I want to recognize our County Partners um from Civic and home associations Community Advocates state other stakeholders who have supported this effort and I'd like to give them a round of applause because nothing that we do in dpwt Works without Community involvement um excuse me my my so I also want to thank the county executive for her strong support and vision the uh Department of Public Works and transportation shares her vision for a vibrant and clean Community uh residential street sweeping is just another step towards making that Vision a reality um I'll just give a little anecdote before I go on I was talking with the guys who are uh uh running the machines now prior to starting the program on Tuesday we wanted to test the test the roots have the drivers test the roots make sure that they understand the roots they know how to sweep uh you know with whatever they're dealing with and um sort of just you know work out some of the Kinks they told me that they swept in the test about 85 of our streets and that's a minor number very small number of total streets and our on trctor picked up nearly 1 million pounds of garbage of litter from the curbs just from that fin by the end of November so that gives you an idea of what really is possible in terms of the cleanliness that the county executive mentioned and what is possible for Prince George's County and that's why we are really doing this program so I think that's that's really like an excellent uh achievement there on their part thank you so residents have made it clear that clean communities are a priority and this is why the county executive has has dedicated resources to taking action to ensure that our neighborhoods are well-maintained and environmentally friendly residential street sweeping will help to reduce the amount of litter along our roadways and keep much of it out of our water bodies pristine water bodies which are really important to the state of Maryland as you can see right these five machines that we have here around us really are an indicative of the fact that we are ready to sort of support this effort in a meaningful and and positive way so we've made strides in our community and I'm sort of a proud to say that our department is responsible for maintaining more than 2,000 miles of uh County Roads uh as well as Bridges public transportation storm drains and things of that nature and um in the phase one uh for the pro of the program which will begin on Tuesday we will be sweeping 717 uh curb miles every five weeks so our our sweeping year will run from the middle of March to the middle of October uh because the sweepers use water to lubricate the brushes you really can't sweep uh you really shouldn't sweep when it's too cold otherwise you'll you'll have problems with ice um so we'll have two sweeps this year and uh we'll be doing that 717 we're really looking forward to the the metrics that will come out of that we're really confident that this will make a meaningful dent in the amount of litter that is ur that is found at our our curves um we held um in preparation for this we also held a few Town Halls three town halls and during the town halls uh we had hundreds of residents who participated and many asked very good and hard questions some of the questions were will my vehicle be ticketed or towed if I'm unable to move it off the road the answer is no we're not going to tick it or toe if your vehicle is blocking the the sweeper the sweeper will sweep around it we will go around it and we'll we hope that next time when we show up in your neighborhood you're you've moved the vehicle so we can sweep what are the hours of operation uh we'll be sweeping from 9 a.m. to 300 p.m. on Monday through Friday in different zones um I don't see any signs in my community will does that mean that my street will not be swept um we will Sweep All residential streets that have curbs and gutters so if you have those if the street has those we they are they will be swept and you can find your sweeping Zone at my pgc.pa.gov is at the bottom please go there and you can find the sweeping Zone and that will sort of tell you when to move your vehicle um the Department of Public Works and transportation is committed to working with all stakeholders to provide effective and efficient street sweeping service well beyond day one and while we're starting on the third um in phase one uh with 11 sweeping zones in the spring of 25 which around the middle of March we will be sweeping the full County which is about 24 zones and uh more than 1,500 uh Lane miles of Roads every five weeks so that is more let's let's give some context uh our our large County that's nearby us who I won't name um that's similar to us and likes to compete with us but we think we think we're better than them in fact we we know we're better than them um they are they sweep about 4,400 uh Lane miles over just three months so they sweep I think starting in April May my July they're June July they're finished and that's it we're sweeping 1,500 every five weeks for 28 weeks so that's that's a big deal that is a huge commitment and a huge undertak and we thank the county executive for uh supporting us and helping us to get the machines and uh the staff that we need to sort of do this um residents who need assistance in accessing the street schedule um there there are a couple of ways that you can get this the first is to call PGC 311 and there the operators there have information that can sort of help you um sort of you know find your Zone and you can also send us an email uh the email is street sweeping at co.pg.md.us that's street sweeping at co.pg.md.us if you send us an email um and you're confused about your Zone just give us your address we'll work with you to help you find what your sweeping zone is you can also go to the website and sign up for notifications and how the notifications will work is that if you put in your address you will get an automated notification um 48 hours ahead of your sweeping day telling you your sweeping day is Monday or Tuesday please remember to move your cars you'll also get as as you get closer to your sweeping day further notifications up until your your day we want to do as much as possible to help you to help us sweep this streets so again thank you for your participation this morning it's really wonderful that so many people turned out and we're really thankful to everyone who has worked hard for the past year within our team and with our stakeholders to make this a reality so thanks again and our the next speaker I'll ask Miss Carol Jones from the suland civic association to come up and give us a few words street sweeping I just want to thank you for the introduction and once again say good morning I first want to thank director Davis and the OCR team for thinking of me and presenting me with an awesome opportunity to represent our amazing and soon to be more beautiful Suitland I have been a resident of Prince George's County for most of my life in other words I'm a long-term Prince georgean for the last 12 years I have dedicated uh my time and service through the to the stud civic association and now I serve as the presiding officer my wonderful neighbors and I have stopped have stopped fading and we have lost we have not lost the faith that we sutan will not be left behind so we are truly thrilled about this sweet sweet I get tongue taged when I say this together we are truly thrilled about this street sleep sweep initiative and I can't begin to count the number of times my neighbors and I have called 311 and yes we have the case number we are we have made sure that our people are familiar with 311 and how to use it to assist them in any situation our association has participated and clean up green up growing green with Prim pride and we had removed many pounds of litter from the street Prince georgean and resident of suland fully understand the importance of removing debris and pollution from our streets we know that only we can ensure clean water cleaner streets and a living and thriving anacosta River and Chesapeake Bay who we Chesapeake Bay we have privileged work with with the rainbar grant uh a several years ago and we were able to install over 30 rain barrels for our neighbors this thank you it was a big project for us the sweeper program is severely needed it is badly needed and I thank you because as the suland civic association we have had requests for this on numerous times Council uh County exact ala Brooks and your Thrifty Administration we thank you for getting the job done I know this new program is a step in the right direction and suland will shine better because of it trash begets trash and we believe that people will think twice now about litter I urge my neighbors to move their cars and quit littering together we can make greater student even greater thank you Prince George's County government and thank you to our County exec Angela o Brooks for all that you do next on our agenda we would have the department of environment director Andre CRS thank you good morning uh my name is Andrea KS I'm the director of the Department of environment here in Prince georgees County and one of the things that the department of environment does is talk to our residents about why the environment is important and try to make it so that our we don't have litter on the ground as if it's growing on grass so I'm going to tell you a story about what Prince George's County looked like in the 1500s and the 1600s that tells you why these regenerative these regenerative sweepers are so important so the matap panai Indians had a story about the Bladensburg River and the Bladensburg basically where we have Lindburg Waterfront Park and they said that if you shot a single Arrow into that River you would be able to collect six fish on that River similarly when the first European settlers came to Prince George's County they described the river as being so full of sturgeon that the water was silver with the fish that were coming out of the water and literally wrote back to the people at home that there was enough food in our area to feed the entire country of England that is the world that this used to be the water that we have here is the water that we depend on the water that we have here is the water that we drink if we're not drinking it now we will drink it tomorrow we will drink it in a year our children will drink it our grandchildren will drink it our children a thousand times over we'll drink it and so we want to rebuild that the unique thing about these regenerative sweepers is not only do they pick up the trash that we absolutely must get out of the water but they pick up the sediment when people originally came here and when the settle when the when the settlers originally came here and when the Native Americans were living here we had all of these deep water ports that were 40 50 70 feet deep Bladensburg Port was one of the largest chipping centers in the colonial United States it was 72 ft deep in 1780 it was 40 ft deep in 1822 it's 4T deep now that is the dirt that is on the ground so these sweepers not only pick up just that trash but they're picking up all of that dirt all of that soil all those things that could be running into our water they are helping us to reden those Rivers they are helping us to restore this land and so there's a real story to this not only should you not litter because we don't want these things in our bodies but we have set up a program that really starts to restore us to where we were and bring back that beauty that all of us recognize here I mean it's gorgeous here anyway it's I mean I live here because it's the most beautiful place that I could find to live but I just want you to think about how that fits into the larger environmental picture of what an amazing place we live in and what it can be as we continue to work for to work together to improve our local environment I do want to give two tiny requests to folks one of them is to think about your sweeping day and your trash day if it is your trash day on your sweeping day if you look it up or if you see the lovely sign and you're like oh my street is being swept on Tuesday that's also my trash day please make sure that when you place out your trash can that you're placing it on the curb not in the street in front of the curb that's going to make it much easier for the sweepers to be able to get through we are asking our trash haulers to do the same thing so after they collect your trash they will be setting the the can neatly on the curb rather than in the street to make sure that our streeters can get through the other thing is that this is one piece of a huge effort to make sure that we are beautifying our community and so I encourage you to look at our other programs we have trees available we have um Water Gardens available and we have something called the PGC track litter app it's getting to be the Autumn it's getting to be a beautiful time of year if you can get a couple of neighbors together to collect some of this this trash in your neighborhood we have a way of you gamifying it and telling us the work that you're doing so please consider that come on our website and look for opportunities to partner with us to build a more beautiful Community for all of us um and now I would like to intro introduce Ruby stemle from E Latinos who's going to come up and speak to us next uh good morning everybody buen OAS buen OAS awesome um thank you County Executive Angela also BRS I follow you closely for many years and let me tell you your leadership is truly inspiring also Samantha Howard and Maria Chavez from the Latino first team your commitment to expanding Community engagement and dedication to the diverse communities in Prince Georges county has been outstanding and thank you for putting them there I'm Ru stemley founder and CEO of col Latinos e col Latinos was established with a mission to empowering the Latino communities of the region to actively participate in the fight for environmental and Social Justice having lived in Prince Georgia County for over 25 years I fully grasp the challenges our communities face I am deeply committed to the work we do from advocating for cleaning Waterway to educating our residents young and old on sustainable practices we offer a oneof a kind environmental summer camp for high school students of Prince Jes County we connect with our Latino residents through their schools and places of worship and currently we are developing an ed Equitable Spanish landscape professional training program on green infrastructure infrastructure practices this is a program that is offered to the people that keep their hands on the land and and keep our neighborhoods and keep our um residential um Gardens at the heart of e catinos is the belief that environmental awareness education and activism are powerful ways for our vibrant and diverse communities to connect one with one another much of our work focuses on understanding the devastating impacts that corite lader and road debris particularly those containing forever chemicals have on an over waterways this way is incredibly important the street sweepers behind us symbolize a critical effort to keeps to keep these harmful elements out of our local Waters by stopping liter and contaminants before they pollute our Living Waters we keep we help keep our communities Greener and definitely healthier this is not all this not only enhances our quality of life but also protects the wer our off Strays the herons our fish fro and turtles while preserving the beauty and safety of our natural areas studies show that Latino household in the US are more concerned about about environmental degradation than the average household for many of us caring for our mad Tia is a way of life whether we grew up here or in our families in our countries of origin as these sweepers become a common site on our streets they'll become a part of our community a sense of Reliance will form and they they Patrol and as they Patrol our neighborhoods and soon people will realize that by removing our leader they'll be protecting our Living Waters and by protecting our waterways they will improve our quality of life we command County Executive also Brooks and uh Michael uh Johnson director of the Department of Public Works and transportation for the sweepers program which we look forward to seeing in Latino neighborhoods and throughout the county with W witness we we have witnessed the powerful aam moment when people realize that the leader on our streets doesn't go to water treatment plants when they when it rains it flows directly into our Rivers you can count on niol Latino's commitment to continuing to raise awar awareness about this critical fact and more of our Spanish speaking residents and throughout the entire County bringing resources and awareness to keep our streets clean reflects the respect we all share to improve the quality of life of our residents we are excited to support this initiative and look forward to continuing to work alongside our local leaders and residents to create a better healthier and green a prince Georgia County for everyone thank you very much and now I invite mland Senate state senator Nick Charles yes indeed I want to start off by thanking director Johnson and the entire DPW team for one being a strong team player and for director Johnson your your great leadership second I would like to uh thank our County Executive Angela also Brooks for for always standing in the Gap and making sure we keep Prince George's County first uh and for making the beautification of our community one of the priorities of her Administration Today We Gather to celebrate an important initiative that reflects our commitment to not only the cleanliness but the beautification of Prince George's County the launch of this residential street sweeping program is not just a reflection of our dedication to a cleaner Community but a testament to the power of state and County Partnerships with mdats delivery of Maryland's litter Dash board the County's delivery of their litter dashboard and now this new street sweeping program our community has no choice but to be beautiful just on Tuesday we celebrated our 2-year anniversary of our countywide monthly meeting with MDOT and dpwt which shows true strength and partnership uh this started with a lot of issues and complaints coming from residents throughout the community and every single month since then the county residents from all over Prince George's County and thankful to County Executive Angela also Brooks for allowing her team to be a part of this important meeting every single month where residents bring every single issue forward uh where we get answers uh within 30 days from dpwt and answers every 30 days from mot uh collectively we've seen millions and millions and millions of tons of trash being picked up all over Prince George's County and only that can happen through true collaboration and true partnership and so as you all know when it comes to clean communities it's all about having a thriving Community it enhances not only our quality of life it boosts our local Pride it contributes to our overall health and the safety of our neighbors but by launching the street sweeping program we are taking what I believe to be some extremely proactive to remove this debris the litter the pollutants from our roads ensuring that our streets are not only clean but safe for pedestrian drivers just alike and so in order for us to do anything we have to do it together can we say together everybody together because together we are Prince George is proud can we say that Prince George is proud George is proud and Prince George is strong thank you everybody and now I'm going to bring up our vice chair Sydney Harrison good morning so uh you know I was just having the opportunity uh to do a little bit of reflection and we heard from our great County Executive in the Innovative leadership uh that she put in place to make sure that our directors um uh and the collaboration between our directors and our County Executive were able to bring a vision without a foundation the vision never works County Executive just spoke about 30 years now I'm turning within the next couple of weeks County Executive last time we had a street sweeping program in Prince George's County I was 20 and I know that um when I was raised as a young lad we used to hear give a hoot don't pollute it was a really ringy catchy uh phrase that was instilled to instilled into our children in our community and it's almost that we have to get back to the sense of pride of really caring about our community County Executive also Brooks think about that for a second we've had many county Executives since then many different leadership styles since then and now we have the first time in 30 years a street sweeping program and if you look at the saying it says keep Prince George's County beautiful One Step at a Time One Sweep at a time and that's important and so County Executive all Brooks I want to thank you for your commitment in the budget process because you know during these last budget years has been very difficult and to prioritize that to keep our community clean and safe making sure that we do our part to keep our Chesapeake bait clean is very important director KS just spoke about the sediment that's on the road those things are very important because those clog up our storm drains then we have flooding we have all sorts of other issues when we don't do our part as a community and so the investment that you made here today to make sure that we have a rollout of these street sweeping programs I just want to say this is probably a very proud moment for me as I serve on the County Council we know that our chair uh Jolene Ivy couldn't be with us today but she's been very committed to making sure that we did our part on the County Council to work with the executive branch to ensure that this day came forward and so we want to thank uh you County Executive also Brooks director Johnson 2,000 miles 2,000 miles of roadways in Prince George's County and I I often say this Prince George's County is a county but when you look at our population density of a million people we are the 16th largest city in the United States of America that's saying something and so when you look at that we know that we have to do our part and so director Johnson to all the staff at Department of Public Works and transportation I want to thank you all cuz you all do the work each and every day to keep our communities clean to our Communications Department as well for the Department of Public Works and transportation the work that you do to educating our constituents making sure that they're doing their part as well we hope that all of our constituents know when their street sweeping day comes so we we don't have to go around the cars we want to make sure that the Investments that we're making that we're able to get all of our mils clean here in Prince George's County and uh we're committed to doing that one of the things that I have learned is one of the number one challenges that we Face uh that we hear from the community is the trash and litter pickup it's been a huge uh what I would say burden and County Executive is right you know we're making an investment into keeping our communities clean but as constituents we have to do our part so if you see your neighbor just hit them with the line they'll remember it give a hoot don't pollute thank you thank you Vice chair Harrison and thank you everyone for coming um again for members of the media we just give us a minute to uh to for you guys to get broken down from where you're set up and we will um set you up with interviews with the county executive and anyone else um who spoke here today and we also invite you to take some time to check out the street sweepers if you haven't done so already there are also Refreshments available under the DPW andt tent over here and please take some time to learn about PGC 311 in the back corner um so thank all of you for coming and have a wonderful day