The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ is touting the success of its Enviro Team. 

The team works downtown and at The Forks doing a number of jobs that keep the city's core area clean, including removing graffiti, picking up litter, cleaning transit shelters, removing posters, cleaning pay stations, cleaning ash trays, handling 311 calls, sweeping sidewalks and removing biohazardous materials from public spaces. 

"Our two core areas of focus at the Downtown BIZ are safety and cleanliness," Downtown Winnipeg BIZ CEO Stefano Grande said. "When you travel to cities and you see things are clean, and you see flowers and bus shelters being cleaned and the hustle and bustle of workers, it shows that the city cares and that leads to positive perceptions." 

The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ says in 2017, the Enviro Team did a lot of good work, including: 

  • removing 3,873 graffiti tags
  • picking up 44,562 pails of litter by hand
  • cleaning 9,966 bus shelters
  • removing 2,821 posters
  • cleaning 1,693 pay stations
  • removing 1,958 biohazardous materials
  • cleaning 815 ash trays
  • answering 207 311 calls and;
  • sweeping 2,790 sidewalks

The Enviro Team receives $268,000 in funding from various City of Winnipeg agencies, funding which is supplemented through sponsorship with local businesses. It employs 16 people, some of which are provided by Siloam Mission. 

Mayor Brian Bowman says it's a worthwhile investment for the city and a piece of the puzzle of downtown safety.  

"This is really about having a clean downtown people want to visit," Bowman said. "If you're downtown and are the only person walking on the street, that's less appealing than if there are 100 people walking down the same street." 

"The work we do to clean downtown really creates an incentive for businesses to invest, for tourists to spend money in our community and for people to enjoy the richness of our downtown." 

Both Bowman and Grande say expanding the program is something that is on their minds, however Bowman said it was too early to comment on whether or not the city would or could bring more money forward.