Sentinel staff report–
Caltrans crews recently cleaned up and cleared out an area along Antelope Road near Interstate 80, as part of a collaborative effort initiated by the city through its Citrus Heights CARES campaign and overall beautification efforts.
City Manager Ash Feeney on Thursday credited the city’s General Services Director Regina Cave for developing a relationship with Caltrans that has “really been paying a lot of dividends.” In an update to the City Council he said the city has been collaborating with Caltrans to clean up “challenging areas” in the city with litter, debris and homeless camps.
Feeney said the cleanup has included maintenance trimming of trees and vegetation, showing the council photos of Caltrans crews carrying chainsaws and chipping branches. He said the cleanup also included the Police Department’s IMPACT Team making contact “with unhoused individuals” in the area along Antelope Road near the interstate.
Citrus Heights launched a focused effort to clean up the city last year, launching a Beautification Crew in December and adding funding for a CARES Campaign earlier this year. The Beautification Crew is in operation Monday-Friday and conducts daily and weekly routines, including “proactive sweeps with quick responses to urgent needs,” the city said. A phone number posted on the truck says residents can request service by calling (916) 727-4770 or texting “service request” to (844) 92-HELLO.
‘No-climb’ fence installed along problematic area of I-80 in Citrus Heights
Funding for the CARES Campaign and Beautification Crew comes from a total of $15.6 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding allocated to Citrus Heights. Original guidelines from the U.S. Treasury had greater restrictions on the use of funds to be more directly related to pandemic relief, but later allowed for broad discretionary use of up to $10 million.
