Do People Support This?

Two categories of data bear on public support for clean teams: national polling on related topics, and documented political outcomes in specific jurisdictions. No national poll has asked Americans specifically about clean teams as a public safety strategy.

National Polling: Adjacent Sentiment

Gallup polling in October 2023 found that 40 percent of Americans feared walking alone at night near their homes — the highest level since 1993. Thirty-one percent said they avoid going downtown or to certain areas of their city because of safety concerns. By 2025, the night-fear number had moderated to 31 percent (Gallup, October 2023; Gallup, October 2025).

More than two-thirds of Americans told Gallup in 2025 that they believed more money should go toward addressing root causes like drug addiction, homelessness, and mental health rather than toward additional law enforcement (Gallup, October 2025). Project for Public Spaces reported in 2025 that homelessness was the second-most-cited challenge facing public spaces, behind funding and aging infrastructure, in a survey of 700-plus respondents (PPS, State of Public Space report, March 2025; pps.org).

Safer Cities national polling found 84 percent of respondents support “picking up needles and other drug paraphernalia to ensure public spaces are safe and clean” (Safer Cities national survey). In Harris County, Texas, 83 percent of residents said clean team units would be “effective” at “making Harris County safer” (Safer Cities/Harris County poll, via Clean Teams Newsletter; safercitiesresearch.com). The Harris County results reflected bipartisan support: 95 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of Republicans said the broader community safety department concept — which includes clean teams as one division — would be effective (Harris County polling, via Clean Teams Newsletter).

In Denton, Texas, the 2024 City Community Survey (830 respondents) found 95 percent felt safe downtown during the day. The survey was conducted in late January through March 2024, overlapping with the ambassador program’s first weeks; the program’s own community survey had only 51 respondents (Denton Record-Chronicle, February 2025; KERA News, October 2024). San Francisco’s 2023 city survey found 54 percent of residents believed street cleanliness had worsened (SF city survey, 2023).

Boston City Councilor John FitzGerald articulated the urgency after a 4-year-old child “accidentally stepped on a used needle while celebrating a family cookout” at a park: “What we’re asking for is a baseline quality of life, where someone shouldn’t have to worry about going to the park and stepping on a needle” (CBS News, via Clean Teams Newsletter).

These data points measure sentiment about conditions and concepts, not support for specific programs. They indicate that the conditions clean teams address register as significant concerns across demographic and partisan lines.

Business Community: BID Renewals and Direct Investment

The documented support from the business community takes the form of self-taxation through BID assessments, contract renewals, and expansion votes.

Seattle’s MID renewed for 10 years in May 2023 at $18 million annually, with a Seattle Times editorial board endorsement calling the program essential to downtown’s recovery (DSA; Seattle Times, April 24, 2023). Portland’s Clean and Safe renewed for five years in November 2024 at $58 million, expanding from 213 to roughly 270 blocks (Portland.gov Ordinance 191960). New York City has 78 BIDs (IDA). Gainesville’s city commission approved its $3.1 million Block by Block contract unanimously (GnvInfo; WCJB). Decatur, Georgia renewed its program in September 2025, increasing from $496,000 to $607,000 (Decaturish).

Portland’s 2023-2024 downtown business survey found 72 percent of respondents somewhat or very satisfied with Clean and Safe services (Portland Business Alliance survey).

The International Downtown Association, led by President and CEO David Downey, frames clean teams as part of a “layered approach to public safety” that fills “the gap between no response and emergency response” (IDA).

Kevin Johnson, operational manager of Arlington’s ambassador program, told The Shorthorn that businesses have responded positively: people now “recognize the yellow hats, [and are] inviting [us] into the community [to help]” (The Shorthorn, via Clean Teams Q&A).

San Francisco’s data shows a gap between spending and satisfaction. The 2025 audit found the city spends approximately $60 per resident on street cleaning — roughly twice the Los Angeles rate — while $15.2 million went unspent and $3 million in illegal dumping fines went uncollected. The 2023 city survey found 54 percent of residents believed street cleanliness had worsened despite this spending (SF BLA audit, 2025; Mission Local, October 2025; SF city survey, 2023).

Named Opposition: Three Directions

Opposition to clean teams is documented from three directions: law enforcement, labor, and community advocacy. Each has produced specific political outcomes.

Law enforcement opposition. San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association President Ken Lomba argued that ambassador contract funds should go to the Sheriff’s Office rather than to organizations that “cannot deliver results” (KQED, October 2025). Critics in this vein describe clean team workers as “fake cops who can’t do anything when real crime happens” and “glorified security guards,” framing the programs as “social experiments” rather than public safety (Clean Teams Q&A, citing opposition messaging). DA Brooke Jenkins noted that the San Francisco police department is approximately 500 officers short of its authorized strength, which makes non-police spending on public safety a subject of political debate (KQED, September 2025).

Labor opposition. San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar introduced the Clean Streets and Fair Pay Act on January 27, 2026, targeting the gap between ambassador workers ($52,000 to $62,400 annually) and comparable city street inspectors (up to $134,000 plus benefits). Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, endorsed the legislation: “A city that tolerates exploitation is a city that abandons its values” (SF Standard, January 27, 2026).

IFPTE Local 21 in San Francisco cited Urban Alchemy in a report documenting the city’s growing use of contractors to replace unionized work. Laborers International Union Local 261 negotiated an agreement limiting Ahsing Solutions from power washing, a function traditionally performed by the Department of Public Works. AFSCME has maintained a national anti-outsourcing position. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, AFSCME Local 369 successfully blocked a trash outsourcing proposal by a 7-to-4 city council vote (AFSCME blog).

Charlottesville Councilor Michael Payne, the sole dissenter on his city’s Block by Block contract, said: “Any time we outsource work, I’m very concerned we’re undermining unionized workers” (29News; Information Charlottesville).

The Beyond Chron analysis found contractor supervisor rates ranging from $84 to $183 per hour billed to the city of San Francisco (Beyond Chron, via SF Standard).

Community advocacy opposition. Portland’s “End Clean and Safe” campaign targeted the Portland Business Alliance-managed BID on accountability and equity grounds. Over 600 signatories opposed expansion. A 2020 city auditor report found “very little city oversight” of BID operations. Despite sustained criticism, the BID expanded from 213 to 270 blocks in November 2024 (End Clean and Safe; Portland city auditor report, 2020; Portland.gov Ordinance 191960; Street Roots, February 2024).

Opposition critics also argue clean teams “just push problems to other neighborhoods without solving anything” and that removing needles “doesn’t stop drug use” and cleaning graffiti “doesn’t prevent vandalism.” The criticism extends to arguing that clean teams “enable bad behavior” by removing consequences (Clean Teams Q&A, citing opposition messaging).

SeeClickFix, a citizen-reporting platform acquired by CivicPlus, had roughly 300 municipal clients and more than 3 million cumulative reports by 2017 (GovTech, January 2017; Street Fight Magazine, January 2017). Portland’s End Clean and Safe campaign argued that complaint-driven deployment functions as displacement when the people being cleaned around have nowhere else to go (End Clean and Safe).

Urban Alchemy, which received approximately $24 million in the December 2025 contract round, has faced at least three shooting incidents involving its workers, including one worker killed in September 2025 (KQED; KRON4; SF Standard).

The Workforce Development Exception

Programs that employ people from homeless and formerly incarcerated populations generate documented political support alongside the environmental maintenance function. Lori Gilbert, who had been experiencing homelessness for about a year when she joined Cincinnati’s Clean Team, told WCPO: “It kind of gave me a purpose in life again, and it kind of helped motivate me to get off the streets… I’m just ready to get my life back on track.” Gilbert had saved enough from the job to buy a car and was looking for a second part-time position to afford her own housing (WCPO, via Clean Teams Newsletter).

In Baltimore, My Father’s Plan employs youth from the Pen Lucy neighborhood. Amari Evans, who started at age eight, told WMAR: “You can get paid for things you want [and]… it also helps with future job applications” (WMAR, July 2023).

The MDRC randomized controlled trial (2012) showing 22 percent recidivism reductions for recently released participants in transitional maintenance employment provides evidence that this employment model produces measurable criminal justice outcomes beyond the cleaning function (MDRC, 2012).

Cincinnati’s GeneroCity 513, Portland’s Clean Start, Portland’s GLITTER, and Kansas City’s Clean Up KC all structure their programs around employment outcomes for workers drawn from vulnerable populations. The wage range across these programs — from $9 per hour (Cincinnati) to $22 per hour with benefits (Seattle) — is itself a subject of political debate (see Q08 for the labor dimension).

What the Data Does Not Show

No national poll has asked Americans specifically about clean teams, street cleaning as a public safety strategy, or the tradeoff between civilian cleaning crews and additional law enforcement. The Denton survey is the only documented instance of a jurisdiction measuring public opinion about its own ambassador program, and it measured feeling safe rather than direct program support.

The partisan dynamics of clean team support are not documented at a granular level. The Gallup fear-of-crime data cuts across party lines. The Harris County polling shows bipartisan support for the umbrella community safety department concept (95 percent Democrats, 83 percent Republicans), but how conservative and progressive voters in specific jurisdictions respond to different clean team framings has not been tested separately (Harris County polling).

When forced to choose, voters in the Harris County poll preferred allocating new public safety dollars to community safety departments (56 percent) over hiring more police officers (37 percent) (Harris County polling, via Clean Teams Newsletter). Whether this preference holds outside a diverse Texas county or when applied to clean teams specifically rather than the full community safety department concept is unknown.

The rural and suburban picture is undocumented. Nearly all programs documented in this product operate in urban downtowns. Block by Block’s expansion into Gainesville (population ~145,000) and Charlottesville (~50,000) is beginning to generate data, but the political dynamics in smaller jurisdictions may differ from the dynamics documented in Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.

No jurisdiction has published survey data on whether residents in cleaned districts change their use of public space, their perception of safety, or their economic behavior as a result of clean team operations. The BID renewal votes are a proxy for business community investment, not resident experience. The Branas trial documented that residents near remediated vacant lots increased outdoor time by 75 percent (Branas et al., PNAS 2018), but that finding has not been replicated for commercial corridor cleaning.

The Bottom Line

Safer Cities polling found 84 percent support for clean team functions nationally. Harris County polling found 83 percent of residents consider clean teams effective at making the county safer, with bipartisan support (95 percent Democrats, 83 percent Republicans for the broader community safety department concept). BID renewal votes in Seattle ($18 million, 10 years), Portland ($58 million, 5 years), Gainesville ($3.1 million, unanimous), and Decatur ($607,000, renewed with increase) document sustained business community investment.

Three organized opposition constituencies are documented. Labor unions have produced concrete political outcomes: Melgar’s Fair Pay Act targeting the $52,000-to-$134,000 wage gap, AFSCME’s Ann Arbor blocking vote (7-to-4), and IFPTE Local 21’s reporting on contractor replacement of unionized work. Law enforcement voices (Deputy Sheriffs’ Association President Lomba) argue for redirecting clean team funds to sworn officers. Community advocacy organizations (Portland’s End Clean and Safe, 600-plus signatories) challenge BID governance and accountability.

Workforce development programs generate broader documented support. Lori Gilbert (Cincinnati) described the program as giving her “purpose in life again.” Amari Evans (Baltimore) cited job skills and future employment applications. The MDRC trial provides evidence that the employment model produces criminal justice outcomes beyond the cleaning function (22 percent recidivism reduction, MDRC 2012).

No jurisdiction has published independent research on whether residents in cleaned districts change their use of public space, their perception of safety, or their economic behavior. The Denton City Community Survey (95 percent feeling safe during the day, 830 respondents) is the only documented instance of a jurisdiction measuring downtown safety perceptions during a clean team program’s operation, though the survey’s timing makes it largely a baseline measurement (Denton Record-Chronicle, February 2025). The political landscape documented across these jurisdictions shows broad public support for the concept, organized opposition on labor and accountability grounds, and an absence of research connecting operations to the outcomes that would sustain long-term political commitment.