Maintenance and historic building preservation go hand in hand. Basic upkeep of buildings and public spaces makes a huge impact on the health of historic districts. When Pioneer Square's neighborhood planning committee got together to consider how it might improve the quality of its historic environment, maintenance was a lynchpin. During the development of their plan, finalized in 1998, enlightened entrepreneur Chris Martin was paying attention. He created CleanScapes in response to a pressing community need. CleanScapes is an organization specializing in streetscape management and enhancement through innovative and efficient litter control, graffiti eradication, and maintenance programs.

Clean Makes Green

Chris Martin's background lies in both management and urban studies, and it shows. The concept driving Cleanscapes is a hybrid of social service, public service, and good business. According to Martin, "the economic viability of a district, a clean and safe district, is a part of what we do. (A clean and safe district) can command better rents and (property owners) can then afford to make the improvements that are needed at the time that they're needed, and not deferred." Regardless of whether or not a property owner chooses to invest higher rents in improved maintenance, the community benefits immediately from cleaner thoroughfares.

The idea of keeping historic areas clean to bolster business activity seems like a no-brainer. The impact on the social environment is much more complex.

If there were an easy solution to social tensions in Pioneer Square, the neighborhood would have discovered this by now. The community and the City have wrestled with balancing social services with a mixed income, diverse population of businesses and residents since the area's revival in the 1970s and 80s. As early as the 1950s, the city considered a "beautification" project aimed at cleaning up the Square, both literally and figuratively.

In many cases, the lowest common denominator in revitalization (Pioneer Square and the University District are strong local examples) is maintenance and infrastructure improvements like repaired sidewalks, attractive and well-attended garbage cans, clean streets, and lighting. These foundations of a healthy community aren't as socially charged as other programmatic elements that might be perceived as gentrifying, stultifying, or too friendly to one element of the neighborhood and, conversely, unfriendly to everyone else.

Employment of the marginally employable, that is, people living in shelters with spotty work histories, is another socially strategic element of CleanScapes. This program component significantly expands the company's social impact, but is challenging, Martin admits.

Revealing the Best

As anyone who has tackled a historic fixer-upper knows, cleaning and removing stop-gap fixes of days past, is extremely satisfying and revealing. Sometimes it's hard to see how great a historic building is without a clean view. Some can see through the layers of disrepair, many cannot.

A lot of Pioneer Square's historic character lies in details that are often hard to see. Significant elements of urban design have been cluttered for decades by large obscuring dumpsters. Historically, alleyways have played an important part in the operation of historic neighborhoods. Loading and unloading of goods took place behind buildings every day before the advent of FedEx and similar goods-delivery services. The storeroom areas designed into historic buildings, near the alley doors, have also changed. Once stocked with supplies, many of these have been leased out as separate offices. Cleaning alleyways, and making them habitable, inviting entrances is consistent with the new occupational patterns in Pioneer Square buildings.

Martin has spearheaded and implemented a "dumpster free alley" program that works to improve the quality of alley environments. Hopefully, clean, dumpster-free alleyways will lead to fuller use of these areas, and active "new" streets. Pike Place Market's Post Alley is a good example of a fully occupied and successful clean alleyway. The City of Seattle has been a valuable partner in this effort. The large alley behind Elliott Bay Books is one successfully implemented example of this program.

Although CleanScapes serves the entire City of Seattle, its focus is Pioneer Square. This historic neighborhood, a nexus of sports, music, the arts, social services, mass transportation plans, small and large businesses, and residents from many economic tiers, needs diligence, vigilance, and a larger set of tools to help the community fix itself. CleanScapes is a primary tool, at once scraping and building a healthier historic district.

For more information on CleanScapes, visit www.cleanscapes.org

View last month's Preservation & Environment article

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