Fund Established for Cleanup Projects

The city has set aside about $80,000 as start-up money for a “community cleanup endowment fund,” which could provide money for neighborhood tidying, composting projects and more.

The City Council approved the creation of the fund, proposed by Judy Lazar, on a unanimous vote Tuesday.

Residents may request money from the fund for a variety of activities:

* Residential and business cleanups. Funds may be used to pay waste haulers for roll-out containers.

* Freeway offramp cleanups. The endowment may pay for tidying messy ramps and interchanges.

* Community composting projects. Funds may cover materials necessary to create the composting area.

* Environmental grants. High school groups, homeowners associations, employee organizations and youth groups could request grants of up to $20,000 a year for cleanup projects that would be fund-raisers for the group. In the first six months of the program, these grants will target high school groups.

The money to fund the endowment will come from the interest earned on the city’s $1.6-million Solid Waste Management Enterprise Fund, which pays for the city’s waste reduction and hazardous waste programs. The interest on this fund, which accounts for a few pennies on residents’ bills each month, is estimated to be about $80,000 a year.

The City Council will evaluate the endowment fund after six months or so to see if the service is used, how much material is disposed and how much is recycled.