A relatively new City of Bridgeport service that was hugely popular that was scrapped last year is coming back, according to Community Development Director Andrea Kerr.

 

“We have to decided to continue with our spring cleanup program,” said Kerr.

 

That should be good news for the hundreds of residents that participated in the event in the past. The city held the event for the first time in 2018 and then again in 2019. Last year, the event was canceled due to concerns with COVID-19.

 

“This will technically be the third year for the event,” said Kerr. “We really anticipate it being a success.”

 

Kerr’s optimism that residents will take advantage of the program stems from a couple of reasons, including past results. The first two years were highly successful, including an amazing number taking advantage of it in 2019.

 

“The last time we did this we had people put out so much stuff that we nearly got to the point where we thought we may have to go back to City Council and ask for a budget revision,” said Kerr. “Fortunately, that did not happen, but it was used heavily both years, and we really anticipate high use this year.”

 

The city will not be doing the actual cleanup. The city partners, and compensates, Waste Management to handle the multi-day cleanup event.

 

“The big reason along with the past that I feel there is going to be a tremendous number of items placed out is that with everyone being home for much of the last year due to COVID you had a lot of people cleaning out their houses,” said Kerr. “We think that is a reason we’ll see an increase.”

 

For those who have not cleaned out their homes and are concerned they may not have time, Kerr said they should not worry. The cleanup period is more than a month away. It will run for a period of 10 days from April 26 through May 7.

 

“This will give people a month to a month and a half to start cleaning things out,” said Kerr.

 

Every day of the cleanup there will be different streets targeted by Waste Management. The list of streets and their respective days have not yet been put together. Kerr said that will be added on the City of Bridgeport’s Web site and will also be shared with Connect-Bridgeport prior to the pickup dates.

 

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