Results Already Visible In "Spring CLEAN" Effort

Friday, April 26th, 2024

The City of Dalton is wrapping up the third week of its "Spring CLEAN" initiative, and positive results are already on display. The initiative - an effort to restore the shine to some of Dalton's founding neighborhoods by focusing City and community resources on code issues in a small geographic area - kicked off in early April and is centered on the neighborhoods surrounding the Mack Gaston Community Center. 

Caption: A before-and-after comparison shows the results of work done by a property owner on McAfee Street

"It's really been going well," said Dan Lewallen, one of the inspectors from the City's Code Enforcement Unit. "I think with most of the property owners and renters that we've spoken to, I haven't really encountered much push-back on it. There have been a lot of questions, but I haven't felt nearly the push-back I would have expected on it." 

The "CLEAN" Initiative - short for "Creating Lively Environments and Neighborhoods" - is modeled after successful projects in other communities such as the "5 X 5" program in Macon, Georgia. In that project, City leaders identified areas of focus that measured five city blocks by five city blocks - thus the "5 X 5" name - and devoted public and private attention and resources on bringing the area back up to code. (READ MORE about the project)

In Dalton, the spring focus area is bordered by Fields Avenue to the east, Henderson Street to the west, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the north, and Morris Street to the south. After an April 6th kickoff event to provide information to residents, the Code Enforcement Department began street by street inspections to identify property issues such as maintenance, upkeep, and safety concerns. After that, inspectors from the department communicated with property owners and helped identify resources that could help get the issues resolved.

Positive changes can already be seen in the neighborhood after only a few weeks of work by City staff, volunteers, residents, and property owners. As an example of the progress being made, Lewallen points to one home in the 800 block of McAfee Street where a rental property owner completed an attractive repainting job with a lively shade of blue as well as the demolition and replacement of an outbuilding over the course of a weekend. 

"It is very surprising to see it happen this quickly. This one was pretty big scale...I was expecting this would be something that we saw happening on a very incremental basis," Lewallen said. "They really got on it. It was one where we spoke with the owner after we did the initial inspection and let them know what the issues were, and it looks like they’re well on their way of having the entire property in compliance and we’ll be closing that case up soon. And some other adjoining properties have had some big improvement, just nothing that really visually jumps out at you like that one did."

Part of the "CLEAN" initiative is connecting residents in the focus area with resources to help with getting properties into compliance, not just going around writing citations for property owners. The City of Dalton has partnered with Believe Greater Dalton, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Hope, and others to help owners who live in their residences with work that needs to be done. The City's Public Works Department is also chipping in to help, offering a "trash amnesty day" on April 18th to provide curbside pickup and haul off of rubbish items that typically are against the rules for the City's garbage collection policy. 

Caption: Rubbish left out for collection by Public Works on the "trash amnesty day"

"Public Works said they collected about 8.6 tons of rubbish that normally wouldn’t have been hauled off from those properties," Lewallen said. "That's three dump truck loads, so 8.6 tons of rubbish that would have just been sitting on these properties there was moved to the street and taken away."

The "CLEAN" initiative is expected to continue in the Mack Gaston Center neighborhoods for seven more weeks and the City is looking forward to seeing more positive changes to come.