Calling ‘RoboMop’

Finally, a civic improvement that doesn’t need City Hall to toot its horn.

The $28,000 sidewalk cleaner that Owen Cacho rode into town for the first time Monday does that itself, automatically.

The machine rumbled down the sidewalk in the 600 block of South Hill Street, launching an annual $3.2-million cleanup campaign run by downtown Los Angeles property owners.

“Beeeep! . . . Sweeper Coming!” a prerecorded announcement blared from under its hood as pedestrians scurried out of the way and then turned to watch the purple machine pass by.

The sweeper, followed by nearly a dozen broom-wielding workers and 28 safety officers on foot and on bicycles, is coming to sidewalks in more than half of the downtown area.

Owners of 482 commercial buildings, including The Times, are paying for the cleanup through a business improvement district. The district is bounded by the Harbor Freeway on the west, 1st Street on the north, Main and Hill streets on the east and Olympic Boulevard and 9th Street on the south.

The safety patrol, using uniformed “ambassadors” dressed in purple shirts, khaki trousers and straw safari hats, will cover the entire 65-block zone. The sidewalk cleaners will sweep 40 blocks.

Property owners in the Bunker Hill high-rise office area already have their own sidewalk cleaning programs and do not need the extra help, said Carol Schatz, president of the Central City Assn. The association organized the improvement district and will administer the assessment of 7 cents per square foot that will pay for the cleanup.

Schatz said property owners just now pulling out of the recession want to capitalize on that momentum and polish the downtown area’s image before the new sports arena, Catholic cathedral and Disney Concert Hall open in the next few years.

Peklar Pilavjian, a diamond importer who is co-owner of half a block of shops in the jewelry district, said he is among the 65% of downtown property owners who voted last year to form the improvement district. He and his partners will pay assessments totaling $35,000 a year during the five years the district will operate.

“I think it’s well worth it,” Pilavjian said of the sidewalk spruce-up. “I’m sick and tired of government not doing it.”

Thomas Gilmore, president of the Hertz Group--which owns such downtown property as the Oviatt Building, the International Jewelry Center and the University Club--will pay $75,000 a year. He said the costs will not be passed on to tenants.

The sweeping machine--which Gilmore on Monday nicknamed “RoboMop”--will be supplemented by sidewalk steam cleaners and a graffiti-removal crew.

Improvement district operations manager Randall Ely said the safety patrol will begin its work Feb. 23 after professional security guards are trained to answer questions and give directions to downtown visitors.

The purple-shirted patrol will make the downtown area more inviting to suburban shoppers by helping counter the impression held by many that downtown is unsafe, said Chris Martin, owner of the Fine Arts Building and a committee head for the improvement district.

Randall Ely, who will direct the sidewalk project for property owners, said crews will work seven days a week. Workers provided by Chrysalis, a skid row agency that assists the homeless, have been hired for the project.

For 32-year-old sweeper driver Cacho, who was unemployed when he turned to Chrysalis, the job is proof that--for him--things are starting to pick up.