The annual volunteer event, which includes citywide participation by suburbanites and Detroiters, was begun by Mayor Dennis Archer in 1994. This year we're encouraging more groups to become involved. The Saturday cleanup campaign remains the same. Individuals wanting to help are encouraged to come out on Saturday as normal. The campaign is contagious.
Neighbors start to clean up their yard and fix up their house when they see others doing it.
When people see how nice one neighbor's yard look, they have to keep up with the Joneses and outdo them. If everyone catches this feeling, we'll have a beautiful city that we can all be proud of. Participants can choose their own areas to clean or Neighborhood City Halls workers will issue cleaning assignments, officials said. Volunteers are asked to bring their own cleaning tools and garbage bags and gloves will be supplied by the city to registered helpers. Over 17,000 people helped during Detroit's first citywide cleanup in 1994.