From April 16 through April 23, 2007, a multi-departmental neighborhood cleanup occurred.

This was in conjunction with the 22nd Annual Project NICE and the 15th Annual Project KEEP. For those people who are new to these projects, NICE (Neighborhood Improvement/Complaint Easement) assists neighborhoods with environmental issues such as garbage, rubbish, inoperable vehicles, dilapidated buildings, and zoning problems.

KEEP (Keep Environmental Enhancement Permanent) helps maintain previous Project NICE neighborhoods.

The 2007 Project NICE area was an area contained within the boundaries of South Minnesota Avenue on the east, South West Avenue on the west, West 18th Street on the south and West 9th Street on the north.

The 2007 Project KEEP area was contained within the boundaries of North Minnesota Avenue on the east, North West Avenue on the west, West 9th Street on the south and West Russell Street on the north.

Volunteers from various City departments worked together to accomplish this project. Residents in the designated areas of town placed rubbish and waste material at the curb. The men and women who assist in this effort placed the rubbish and waste material in front-end loader buckets provided by the City. The rubbish and waste material was then loaded on to City trucks and disposed of in the City Landfill or properly recycled.

Three street crews removed 591 loads of rubble, 12 loads of tires and 12 loads of appliances for a total of 615 truckloads of waste removed from the two neighborhoods. This is over twice as many truckloads as last year’s project. The clean up portion of the project was completed on Monday April 23, 2007. Each neighborhood’s enthusiastic involvement in the opportunity the City offered for clean-up made it necessary to extend the clean-up work one day past the official clean-up week.

The corrective action portion of the projects began after the clean up was completed. The neighborhoods were surveyed and any remaining violations of City ordinance were addressed. The Project NICE/KEEP City assisted clean up and the follow up corrective action portions of the projects have proven to be very beneficial for the City of Sioux Falls. The impact it has had in helping maintain and improve environmental conditions in many Sioux Falls neighborhoods are significant.

This project is one of the things that keeps Sioux Falls one of the best places to live in the United States.