Mayor Matt Mahan Directs $45 Million for San Jose Automated Clean Streets and Creekway Trash Traps

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Mayor Matt Mahan and the San Jose City Council approved a $45 million municipal environmental beautification capital allocation on Monday to deploy a fleet of twenty compact electric sidewalk sweepers, install five automated hydrodynamic trash interception booms along Coyote Creek and the Guadalupe River, and expand daily litter abatement crews across all ten council districts.

The municipal clean streets initiative, managed through the San Jose Environmental Services Department and Department of Transportation, directly addresses street litter, illegal dumping, and stormwater trash pollution before plastic waste can enter urban creekways and drain into South San Francisco Bay.

Restoring Clean Public Sidewalks and Protecting Bay Ecosystems Urban runoff studies showed that street litter washed into municipal storm drains during winter rainstorms is the primary source of plastic pollution in the San Francisco Bay, degrading endangered steelhead trout and Chinook salmon spawning habitats.

"San Jose residents deserve clean, safe, and beautiful neighborhood streets and parks they can be proud of," Mayor Matt Mahan said along the Guadalupe River Trail in downtown San Jose. "You cannot have a thriving, world-class city if our sidewalks are covered in trash and our natural waterways are choked with plastic. This $45 million investment puts automated cleaning equipment on our neighborhood sidewalks every single day and installs heavy-duty trash traps in our creeks, stopping pollution at the source and keeping our city clean."

Key Equipment and Waterway Traps The $45 million package includes:

• 20 Compact Electric Sidewalk Sweepers: All-electric zero-emission sweepers engineered to clean narrow sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and transit plazas.
• 5 Hydrodynamic Creek Trash Booms: Installing heavy-duty floating booms equipped with conveyor belts that automatically collect and remove floating debris from Coyote Creek and Guadalupe River.
• BeautifySJ Neighborhood Quick-Response Teams: Hiring 80 full-time municipal workers to respond to illegal dumping service requests within 24 hours.

Neighborhood association leaders, environmental conservation federations, and downtown business owners praised the municipal funding, emphasizing that visible daily street cleaning immediately improves public safety and community pride.