caltrans
Caltrans today awarded nearly $115 million in Clean California grants to cities and local agencies. The grants are a key part ofGovernor Gavin Newsom’s Clean California initiative, which is a sweeping $1.2 billion, multiyear commitment led by Caltrans to clean up trash, create thousands of jobs and help communities beautify their public spaces.
With today’s announcement, Clean California grants have funded nearly 300 projects statewide to revitalize and beautify underserved communities, some of which are already complete and now sources of community pride. The projects will improve public spaces, tribal lands, parks, neighborhoods, transit centers, walking paths, streets, roadsides, recreation fields, community gathering spots, and places of cultural importance or historical interest in underserved communities.
The 42 Clean California local grants announced today are in addition to the nearly $300 million in grants Governor Newsom announced in March 2022 to more than 100 local Clean California projects statewide.
Key projects include:
- The City of Guadalupe Transit Hub Renovation project involves upgrading the City’s Amtrak station to a multimodal transit hub. Project includes implementing a public restroom, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, bicycle amenities, pervious pavers, improved signage, and site beautification upgrades. The site was originally designed for an average of 23 daily train passengers but now must accommodate an additional 140 passengers per day that ride the City’s fixed route bus system. The site is located adjacent to both the railroad and Highway 1 and is on a very popular bicycle touring route. The grant amount request is approximately $816,000.
- The City of Oxnard Campus Park Enhancement Project will enhance the currently vacant dirt lot at the abandoned old Oxnard High School 30-acre site, which was closed in 1995. The project will include clearing and grading of the site, and will turn the vacant areas of the lot into a beautified community space with multiple amenities as described in the Narrative attachment. The site is on the busy West Fifth Street corridor, within ½ mile of downtown Oxnard. The site currently accumulates litter, illegal dumping, and is surrounded by chain-link fencing that makes it off-limits to the public except through illicit holes cut into the fence that enable unauthorized access. The project will construct walking pathways, shade structures, safety lighting, cultural and botanical educational signage, trash cans, a restroom, landscaping, and other amenities to beautify the area and transform it into a publicly accessible recreational space instead of the vacant lot that it is currently. The grant amount request is approximately $3.5 million.
Following the positive community response to this first round of grants, Governor Newsom and the state legislature approved $100 million last year for a second round of local grant projects. The local grants awarded today range from $88,000 to $5 million, and all benefit underserved communities. In addition, today’s funding announcement includes $14.5 million to support 18 projects to clean up stations and other areas around public transit systems.
Since launching Clean California in July 2021, Caltrans and local partners have removed an estimated 1.86 million cubic yards of litter from state highways – a trash pile that would be more than 370 times taller than Mount Whitney (14,505 feet, the state’s highest peak). The program has created more than 4,000 jobs that have helped Californians overcome barriers to employment, including 357 people experiencing homelessness, and drawn more than 10,000 volunteers to events ranging from community cleanups to large debris collections for appliances, tires and mattresses.
As the Clean California effort moves forward, Caltrans and local communities will continue to draw attention to the negative impact litter has on natural resources, waterways, public safety and public health to create a cultural shift of shared responsibility for clean and vibrant public spaces.
Caltrans is also developing a program in which communities throughout the state can earn a special Clean California Community designation by meeting criteria centered around preventing and cleaning up litter, promoting recycling and greening or beautifying neighborhoods. To find out how to volunteer with Clean California, please visit Clean California.
