The cleanup marked the first week for the city's third annual Fight Blight Campaign. Each week, the group will spend about four hours cleaning up a different city neighborhood. Bernardi is on his way to becoming a top official in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The appointment is expected this summer. The code violations issued on Thursday ranged from poorly maintained steps to homes with no numbers.
Police also put warning tags on some unlicensed cars.
For the first time, the crew returned to a neighborhood it cleaned a previous year. Follow-up is crucial, and I'm happy to see that some of the work done here as a result of our 1999 sweep has had a lasting effect. There is still a lot to be done, but the situation is much better than the last time the Flight Blight team was here. The city also announced on Thursday the results of a separate spring crackdown on litter. The city cited 700 properties this spring for not properly disposing of trash and debris, Bernardi said.