Merchants call for Main Street sidewalk cleaning

The sidewalks on Main Street haven’t been thoroughly cleaned for almost two years now, a fact that doesn’t sit well with Sarasota Downtown Merchants Association member Ron Campian.

Campian, the co-owner of Kennedy Gallery & Studios, has been pushing for more than a year for a more rigorous cleaning regimen along Main Street. The city has fallen behind on its efforts to clean downtown streets due to contractor issues, and Campian no longer trusts the city to tackle the maintenance on its own.

That’s why on Jan. 21 Campian appeared before the city’s Downtown Improvement District, requesting the group facilitate the purchase of a scrubbing machine. Although the city is putting out a request for proposals to perform a deep cleaning on the sidewalks every six months, Campian believes it’s necessary to perform more regular cleaning, as well.

“When you have dirty carpets, you call in the carpet cleaning company,” Campian said. “In between calling them in, you run a vacuum cleaner.”

Campian acknowledges sidewalk cleaning isn’t an issue that’s at the front of many people’s minds, but he believes that’s because they’ve become accustomed to a lower level of service. He said that people walking on dirty sidewalks — particularly after a $1.9 million Main Street improvement project last year — is obviously a problem that needs to be addressed.

The DID board balked at spending up to $25,000 to purchase the cleaning machine, after which the SDMA would hire a part-time worker to regularly scrub the sidewalks. Some board members suggested the merchants should find funding for the machine on their own; others said funds should be generated by charging more money for sidewalk café permits.

Campian disagrees, asserting that cleaning sidewalks is one of the responsibilities of the DID.

“If you look at their website — the summary of their charter, the very first item of what they’re supposed to do includes washing the sidewalks,” Campian said.

Unable to reach a consensus, the DID will continue its discussion at a future meeting. Until then, Campian is holding out hope that a more thorough cleaning routine can be established on Main Street.

Contact David Conway at [email protected]