(Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
April 6, 2021 By Allie Griffin
The city plans to employ 10,000 New Yorkers to remove graffiti and clean city parks, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
The city will hire 10,000 people by July and will post the first 1,000 job openings this month as part of its new “City Cleanup Corps” initiative.
De Blasio said the effort will help New Yorkers left jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic, while also beautifying neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.
“10,000 jobs — that that’s going to help a lot of families,” he said during a morning press briefing.
The jobs will pay $15-an-hour and the city will fund the program with money from the federal stimulus. The mayor did not provide an official price tag for the overall program.
“We want to take some of that stimulus money and do something special here in New York City, that’s going to employ 10,000 New Yorkers, give them an opportunity to get back on their feet, do something great for the city, [and] also help the city as a whole recover,” de Blasio said.
The workers will be tasked with removing graffiti, cleaning parks and maintaining streets that are part of the city’s Open Streets program.
The workers will also power-wash sidewalks, create community murals, tend to community gardens, beautify public spaces and work with community-based organizations to clean local neighborhoods.
“Having a dedicated group of New Yorkers who are going to go out there [to] make this city shine, that’s going to speed the recovery,” de Blasio said.
The clean up crews will focus on neighborhoods hit hard by the pandemic, as well as business districts and commercial corridors.
“We’re also going to focus on business districts, commercial streets, places where we depend on our economic recovery to happen,” de Blasio said. “We want to beautify them. We want to show New York City is open for business and moving forward.”
The city will also identify areas in need of cleaning via feedback from local elected officials and community leaders.
The first 500 jobs have already been posted online at nyc.gov/ccc and another 500 will be posted throughout April.
