Renton will continue the Downtown Clean Initiative to try to make the downtown area more attractive to visitors.

The city signed a contract to pay Fresh Family a maximum of $150,000 to clean up the sidewalks and storefronts downtown as a part of the initiative. The cleaning area includes S. 2nd Street and S. 3rd Street between Rainier Avenue S. and Mill Avenue S., as well as S. 4th Street between Burnett Avenue S. and Main Avenue S.

Renton Economic Development Director Amanda Free said the program started just over two years ago.

“They come out three to four days a week, depending on the season,” Free said. “They help with cleaning the sidewalks, picking up trash, picking up the downtown and just making it more generally clean. Basically from the front of the building to the curbline.”

Fresh Family was selected to provide sidewalk cleaning, pressure washing, and minor landscaping services throughout the designated areas. The contract begins in March 2025 and will run for 12 months.

“The businesses have been very supportive of it. We’ve definitely seen the downtown more clean,” Free said. “They do take care of graffiti on some of the private buildings and other places just to make it more clean overall.”

Free said the previous contracts ended in December, so the city has been without the program for a few months.

“We’ve seen a definite uptick in overflowing trash, graffiti, trash in the planter areas,” Free said. “The sidewalks aren’t as clean and there’s just more general waste around the area since the contract ended in December.”

Free said it is important to keep the downtown clean to attract more people to the area.

“It encourages people to come and stay longer,” Free said. “I don’t enjoy seeing trash when I go places.”

Free said the crews clean up human waste as well.

“That is one of the things people generally avoid areas for,” Free said. “We’ve also seen an increase in the number of outside pedestrians and people who are visiting the area which does deter some of the unnecessary behavior that we don’t like in the downtown.”