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    June 7, 2012

    1917 Report on Street Cleaning and Refuse Collection in Detroit posted to website

    In 1916, the appearance of Detroit’s streets, alleys, and public places was “disgraceful”.  People regularly dropped paper and other waste wherever they were, rubbish was thrown into alleys with merely the hope of hitting the receptacle intended to hold that waste, and a fine filmy dust was constantly settling on the roads creating a “nuisance”.
    At the same time the population of the city was growing extremely rapid, with new territories annexed to the outskirts of what then constituted the city.
    In 1917, a fledgling organization called the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research (which later was renamed the Citizens Research Council of Michigan) issued a report to help the city deal with these problems.  The Report on Street Cleaning and Refuse Collection recommended a number of changes based on good government ideas and best practices from other cities. Recommendations dealt with organization for the Bureau of Sanitation; civil service practices to avoid patronage; and appropriation, payroll and record reform to provide better accountability. Operational reforms were offered for street cleaning, including: the street flushing, machine sweepers, pavement sprinkling, hand sweeping (“white wing” patrol), and snow removal.  Other operations reforms dealt with collection of refuse, including: providing better definitions of rubbish to allow separation, rerouting collectors, and greater incorporation of the new automobile trucks into trash collection and removal.
    The report implored Detroiters to take greater care to clean up after themselves or the work of the city sanitation forces could never keep up.
    At the request of a website visitor, the report has been scanned and is now available on the CRC website.
     

    President

    About The Author

    Eric Lupher

    President

    Eric has been President of the Citizens Research Council since September of 2014. He has been with the Citizens Research Council since 1987, the first two years as a Lent Upson-Loren Miller Fellow, and since then as a Research Associate and, later, as Director of Local Affairs. Eric has researched such issues as state taxes, state revenue sharing, highway funding, unemployment insurance, economic development incentives, and stadium funding. His recent work focused on local government matters, including intergovernmental cooperation, governance issues, and municipal finance. Eric is a past president of the Governmental Research Association and also served as vice-chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), an advisory body for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), representing the user community on behalf of the Governmental Research Association.

    1917 Report on Street Cleaning and Refuse Collection in Detroit posted to website

    In 1916, the appearance of Detroit’s streets, alleys, and public places was “disgraceful”.  People regularly dropped paper and other waste wherever they were, rubbish was thrown into alleys with merely the hope of hitting the receptacle intended to hold that waste, and a fine filmy dust was constantly settling on the roads creating a “nuisance”.
    At the same time the population of the city was growing extremely rapid, with new territories annexed to the outskirts of what then constituted the city.
    In 1917, a fledgling organization called the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research (which later was renamed the Citizens Research Council of Michigan) issued a report to help the city deal with these problems.  The Report on Street Cleaning and Refuse Collection recommended a number of changes based on good government ideas and best practices from other cities. Recommendations dealt with organization for the Bureau of Sanitation; civil service practices to avoid patronage; and appropriation, payroll and record reform to provide better accountability. Operational reforms were offered for street cleaning, including: the street flushing, machine sweepers, pavement sprinkling, hand sweeping (“white wing” patrol), and snow removal.  Other operations reforms dealt with collection of refuse, including: providing better definitions of rubbish to allow separation, rerouting collectors, and greater incorporation of the new automobile trucks into trash collection and removal.
    The report implored Detroiters to take greater care to clean up after themselves or the work of the city sanitation forces could never keep up.
    At the request of a website visitor, the report has been scanned and is now available on the CRC website.
     

  • Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the Citizens Research Council of Michigan is properly cited.

  • Recent Posts

  • Stay informed of new research published and other Citizens Research Council news.


    By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Citizens Research Council of Michigan. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
    President

    About The Author

    Eric Lupher

    President

    Eric has been President of the Citizens Research Council since September of 2014. He has been with the Citizens Research Council since 1987, the first two years as a Lent Upson-Loren Miller Fellow, and since then as a Research Associate and, later, as Director of Local Affairs. Eric has researched such issues as state taxes, state revenue sharing, highway funding, unemployment insurance, economic development incentives, and stadium funding. His recent work focused on local government matters, including intergovernmental cooperation, governance issues, and municipal finance. Eric is a past president of the Governmental Research Association and also served as vice-chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), an advisory body for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), representing the user community on behalf of the Governmental Research Association.

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