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Mayor Misty Buscher announced today that Springfield Green is going back into gear with its first major efforts focusing on litter pickup ahead of what is set to be a record-breaking tourism year for Springfield. This City beautification program, which was largely active during Mayor Tim Davlin’s administration, embraced the concept of “clean before you green.” City leaders say now is the time to take on that effort again with such events as the 100th Anniversary of Route 66, which is expected to draw thousands more visitors, including many international visitors and “America 250” which anticipates numerous special events in celebration of the occasion during the peak tourism season. Additionally, this year marks the first full year of the SCHEELS Sports Park being in full operation, which is expected to draw thousands more new families to the capital city.
Mayor Buscher began convening committees for Springfield Green in 2025 with the focus on litter, as well as City gateway improvements along with downtown beautification. Director of the City’s Public Works Department Dave Fuchs and Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance President & CEO and Springfield Green Chairman Ryan McCrady were named co-chairs. Karen Conn, CEO of Conn’s Hospitality Group, Mike Aiello, CEO of Troxell Insurance, and Billy Fleischli, Chief of Staff for the City of Springfield, proudly serve on Springfield Green’s Executive Committee.
“As 2025 was a big year for road improvements and overlays, roadside trash and litter become more apparent,” said Mayor Buscher. “Litter pick up is a very easy way to show the pride we have in taking care of our community that our residents and visitors can see—and it’s a great way to get outdoors and have fellowship with friends, coworkers and neighbors.”
Adopt-a-Street, a litter pick-up program modeled after the State of Illinois’ Adopt-a-Highway program, is another tool to address road-side litter and trash problems. In this program the city equips community groups, businesses or any volunteers with trash bags and safety vests for picking up litter along selected roadways and Public Works crews pick up the bags following clean-ups.
The Office of Public Works is encouraging participation in its Adopt-a-Street program, which requires just three pickups a year. Volunteers are encouraged to clean up around their neighborhoods, businesses and commercial areas where litter trouble is high. Currently about 13 groups participate in Adopt-a-Street. Groups can apply to the program now and plan to begin next year during the Spring to early Fall season.
Fuchs said cleaning up the city can be an effort that is successful when multiple resources are involved. “Our crews patrol and hit trouble spots where fly-dumping is frequent and with the assistance of the public and zone managers, we address areas reported where a trash issue has occurred,” he said. “Not all litter is intentional, and it is common near a lot of the commercial areas to have trash that has blown from cars or trash receptacles –the issue is that it can really accumulate over time and become a problem if not addressed.”
Mayor Buscher reinstituted zone managers in 2024 to be more proactive on addressing trouble with streets and sidewalks, problem properties, fly dumping and more. Each zone manager is assigned a handful of wards and they are tasked with seeing trouble is addressed quickly. The City’s Public Works also expanded its “Report a Problem” page and added “See Click Fix,” an easy online portal to geo report issues such as trash, pot holes, overgrown grass and more.
McCrady said he’s looking forward to movement in overall city beautification through these City- and community-led efforts. “This is an exciting time for our city as we have the Scheels Sports Complex coming online along with a number of new attractions and developments drawing more people to Springfield,” he said. “I’m eager to be a part of this effort to promote a cleaner city and I look forward to bringing more groups together in helping us beautify Springfield.”
Community groups or businesses interested in adopting a street must fill out an application to participate in the program. Applications are available on City Public Works website, https://springfield.il.us/Departments/PublicWorks/PublicWorksDefault.aspx?AdoptAStreet or by calling 217-789-2255. Each group will be responsible for a half-mile to two-mile section of city street and will agree to remove litter a minimum of three times a year over a two-year period. Signs acknowledging the group on the streets being adopted can be placed to mark areas. Safety vests and trash bags will be supplied to each group to facilitate clean-up.
