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$206K City Council Grant Devoted to Cleaning Up Litter on Staten Island

By Nicholas Rizzi | September 9, 2015 7:11pm
 Staten Island non-profit Where to Turn was allocated a $206,000 grant from the City Council to fund their cleanups around Staten Island.
Staten Island non-profit Where to Turn was allocated a $206,000 grant from the City Council to fund their cleanups around Staten Island.
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DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

STATEN ISLAND — The City Council gave a $206,000 grant to a Staten Island nonprofit to clean up litter, debris and graffiti in the borough.

Where to Turn was granted the funds from the Council’s NYC Cleanup Initiative to continue their work around the borough, Councilmember Steven Matteo and Assemblyman Joe Borelli announced on Wednesday.

"Cleaning a site that has been overwhelmed with litter not only improves a community’s aesthetic appearance, it also boosts the spirit of its residents," said Matteo in a statement. "This new allocation will allow us to expand our efforts to keep our borough clean and to respond more quickly to complaints about litter and graffiti and unsightly weeds."

Last year, Where to Turn was given $136,000 from the Council and cleaned up at least 155 locations since January, including parks, bus stops, train stations, Matteo said.

Matteo, the Council's minority leader, allocated the funds both from his district and the 51st District, formerly represented by Vincent Ignizio who stepped down from his post in July.

Borelli, who is running unopposed to fill Ignizio's seat, promised to keep the funds intact when he takes office.

"There's no debating it: a clean Island is a better Island," Borelli said in a statement.

Where to Turn officials said they would use this year's money to create dedicated "clean teams" in both the Mid-Island and South Shore, and will also begin removing snow in the winter.

The funds are part of a larger push by Matteo, Borough President James Oddo and other elected officials to get litter off the streets.

The push has created "clean teams" to respond to dirty blocks in neighborhoods, and earlier this year Oddo and Matteo pushed business owners to join a program that asks them to empty overflowing public trash cans.