Officials credit Street Team for cleaning up downtown St. Paul

St. Paul city and business leaders gathered at Rice Park Thursday to praise 16 neon-wearing, broom-toting, radio-wielding downtown Street Team members for cleaning up garbage, graffiti and crime in the capital city's business and cultural core.

"Just in time, we rallied ourselves together around downtown. ... Just in time, we created this Downtown Alliance Street Team," said Mayor Melvin Carter, who lauded team members for helping revive the area and bring crime to a five-year low. "I just want to say on behalf of our city, this Street Team has been the talk of the town. If you haven't noticed, people are noticing your work."

He added: "You are always working, and we see you. We appreciate you."

Divided into two crews — a cleaning crew that works six days a week and a safety crew that works two shifts a day, seven days a week — the team has cleaned up more than 1,000 incidents of graffiti and reached out to more than 800 businesses, said Block By Block Operations Manager Jason Burns. Team members perform a variety of tasks, including picking up litter, giving directions and escorting downtown workers to their cars after dark.

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