A new partnership with the Urban Corps of San Diego County will lead to much more frequent pressure washing of sidewalks and the local seawall, the City of Carlsbad says.

Under a previous contract with a private company, the Carlsbad Village area and seawall were cleaned professionally twice per year. The Urban Corps will be cleaning these areas three times weekly, year-round, for the same sum - $68,000.

Urban Corps is a nonprofit program that provides high school level education and job training to youth between the ages of 18 and 25 who were unsuccessful in a traditional high school setting.

Under the terms of the contract, uniformed crews will show up thrice weekly at 6 a.m., cleaning as directed by city staff until 9:30 a.m. and then vacating the area before most storefronts open for business.

“We’ve been employing Urban Corps for 10 years for other projects, and they deliver highly dependable, professional service for a reasonable price,” says Clayton Dobbs, a city utilities supervisor.

The group has previously been employed by the city to clean up litter, clear storm drains, and remove large items dumped on city-owned property.