WASHINGTON — The Georgetown Business Improvement District estimates there are more than one million bricks that make up the sidewalks winding through Georgetown, and the BID will now be responsible for taking care of them.
Under partnership with the District Department of Transportation, BID “Clean Team” members — who already clean streets and sidewalks, empty trash cans, remove graffiti and help with snow removal, and are contracted through cleaning and hospitality provider Block by Block — will now identify and repair damaged and missing sidewalk bricks and cobblestones.
The District will pay the BID for the maintenance work.
“This agreement allows DDOT to use the BID’s staff and ‘eyes on the street’ to quickly identify and fix problems on a daily basis,” said Georgetown BID CEO Joe Sternlieb.
By keeping many of the unique historic paving materials used in Georgetown in inventory, and training its own staff in brick repair, the Georgetown BID will be able to identify and repair small sidewalk jobs in as little as 24 hours.
The year-long partnership is made possible by the Public Space Maintenance Contracting Authorization Act of 2014, passed by the D.C. Council that same year.
DDOT hopes to forge similar deals with other Business Improvement Districts in D.C.
