Philly city officials vow to keep the city clean after a summer-long cleanup effort

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Surrounded by trash trucks and city workers Wednesday afternoon, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker announced plans for a year-round effort to keep Philadelphia clean.

Speaking mainly to city workers who did the cleanup, Parker said the effort was designed to show both residents and visitors tangible efforts to make the city better.

“We completed over 60,000 quality-of-life services throughout the entire city of Philadelphia, block by block,” she said.

Since the beginning of the summer, 18,000 blocks were cleaned, with weeds being pulled, new flowers planted and other efforts to hopefully shake off the “Filthadelphia” tag that has hung on the city for years.

“This is what I get excited about. I’m in politics and I’m jaded,” Parker said. “I don’t believe anything that anyone tells me. I watch what they do.”

Carlton Williams heads up Parker’s Clean and Green Initiatives and helped run the cleanup effort. He said the cleanup isn’t a one-time thing.

“Mayor Parker and I had a conversation. She said this is not a one-off, not a one and done. This is going to be standard operating procedure,” he said.

There were 136 new recruits that were hired as part of the effort who will be dispatched into neighborhoods for council district–based cleanup teams.

Brian O’Neill, the only Republican member of City Council, lauded the mayor’s influence and ability to complete the citywide cleanup.

There were “12 agencies, all out together working their tails off and it was remarkable. It was miraculous actually,” O’Neill said. “Without Mayor Parker, this wouldn’t have happened.”

As part of the work, crews from Parks and Recreation cleaned up city playgrounds, while the school district did a deep clean of their exterior areas.

With the work on the project completed, officials vowed to stay on top of the litter so the city will remain cleaner and not need a major cleanup like this again.