San Francisco Announces Beautification Project Along Bayview Corridor

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – The city of San Francisco has launched a program that hires local residents through the Department of Public Works to clean the streets and sidewalks in front of businesses in some of the city's most neglected neighborhoods.

The Community Corridors Pre-Apprenticeship Program kicked off Wednesday on 3rd Street in the Bayview District.

KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:

San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, who represents the Bayview, said the program employs 35 people to clean commercial areas in busy neighborhoods.

"Steps that we're taking today are going to insure that folks who come to San Francisco are going to come down here along this merchant corridor and shop and spend their money and be able to see and feel the sense of community that we have here," she said.

A total of 175 blocks will be swept, cleared of graffiti and landscaped in the Haight, Mission, Tenderloin and other districts.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said the programs are meant to restore and reinforce a sense of civic pride in each neighborhood.

"It is never a part of what, in years past, has been 3rd Street feeling a little isolated and disconnected," Lee said. "We don't ever want that to happen."

The Community Corridors Partnership began in 2006 to address cleaning and greening needs along key blocks to improve the quality of life on busy San Francisco merchant corridors.

The program is funded through next spring.

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