AUGUSTA, GA (WFXG) -
Clearing the sidewalks and streets of
leaves - that's what a December day looks like for people employed by the Clean
Augusta Downtown Initiative or CADI.
But the program which has cleaned up
trash on the streets for five years could be headed for the dumpster soon.
"We need about 40 more
signatures," said the Director for the Downtown Development Authority,
Margaret Woodard.
To keep CADI on the streets, the DDA
needs 110 signatures from property owners and approval from Commissioners.
When we hit the streets, we found
property owners settling on different sides of the trash heap.
"We're struggling against it,"
said downtown business owner Mike Walraven.
Paul King the general manager of REX
Property & Land, LLC had a different opinion, "We're willing to pay a
little extra to ensure the property isn't just clean in front of where we
have our ownership, but our neighbors and adjoining blocks and properties are
clean as well."
"I'm against the CADI and the
majority of people and everyone on the 600 block of Broad is against it, we
really see no advantage, it's just another tax," said Bill Prince, the owner
of Bill's Place.
The DDA plans to present their
petition to Commissioners December 18. If commissioners approve CADI through
2017, property owners are expected to shell out $350,000.
Woodard said CADI has been beneficial
for the city, "It's making downtown friendlier, we assist stranded
motorists, we keep panhandlers at bay, we assist people going to the bank we
walk people to their cars."
King said he'd like to see the program
continue, "Downtown is much cleaner than it was prior to CADI."
"Where things are clean things
are safer and we should be proud that our streets are clean," Woodard,
said.
But Walraven isn't convinced it's
worth the price tag, "We're a small business and in the economy these days most
small businesses need every penny they can keep."
"We don't want anybody doing stuff for us or taking
our money, we take care of ourselves," said Prince.
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