Street Team Helps Clean Up Downtown Peekskill

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- Has downtown Peekskill been looking a little nicer recently?

L to R: Wheelabrator Plant Manager Brett Baker, street sweeper Howard Bloom, Keon Job Coach Carole Granese, street sweepers Brian Mitchell and Brian London, Robert McNamara, Wheelabrator Manager, Keon Employment Developer Joseph Conti, Bill Powers
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

11/20/2017 5:30 a.m.

A street team has been sweeping up Peekskill three times a week, cleaning up of all the litter. The program is funded through next summer thanks to a $20,000 grant from Wheelabrator Westchester and contributions from the City of Peekskill and the Peekskill Business Improvement District.

The team consists of three to four adult workers from the Keon Center, a Peekskill non-profit agency that serves the developmentally disabled with programs designed to promote self-sufficiency, skill enhancement, and inclusion.

“We wanted to improve the overall experience for shoppers, visitors, tourists," Bill Powers, executive director of the Peekskill BID said. "Street litter was identified as an issue that needed to be addressed in our downtown. Working with the Keon Center is a win-win for everyone—we get cleaner streets, the Keon team gets a valuable work opportunity.

Plans call for the street sweepers to work through the winter, weather permitting.

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