Sam Williams rolled a yellow garbage can down the sidewalk in Pittsburgh’s Market Square, pausing to grab his broom and sweep up some debris.
Then, he reached his gloved hands into a metal trash can, tied off the overflowing bag and replaced it with a new one.
Williams is one of 27 people who make up the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Clean Team, a crew deployed throughout the Golden Triangle to remove litter, empty garbage cans and scrape cigarette butts from cracks in the sidewalk.
“I love Downtown,” said Williams, who has been with the Clean Team for over 16 years. “I like what I’m doing.”
The team is always busy. But in the weeks leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, they’re kicking up their efforts, said James Wimberly, general manager of the PDP’s Clean and Safe Program.
Workers from the Clean Team, the city and other organizations have been hard at work cleaning and beautifying Pittsburgh ahead of the draft. Projects range from grassroots litter collections to multimillion-dollar renovations. All aim to ensure the city looks its best when it’s thrust into the national spotlight that comes with hosting a major NFL event.
The Clean Team works in all weather, seven days a week, staggered in shifts that start at 4 a.m. and end at 11 p.m.
They give the city “a pretty steady diet of pressure washing,” especially near the trash cans where stains and spills make frequent messes, Wimberly said. They focus on keeping spaces clean around big events, from an annual winter holiday market to the Picklesburgh summer festival — and soon, the NFL’s marquee offseason event.
The team is both working to ensure the city sparkles for the start of the April 23-25 event and to keep it clean as throngs of fans descend on the city, likely leaving spills or trash behind.
Officials have estimated the draft could draw 500,000 to 700,000 people, so the PDP is hiring about 40 or 50 temporary staffers to partner with Clean Team workers and stay on top of any potential messes.
“It’s going to be very difficult with the large number of people,” Wimberly said.
The Clean Team will not handle cleanups within the draft footprint — which includes Point State Park and the North Shore — during the three-day event, as that responsibility falls to the NFL.
Instead, crews will be deployed throughout other parts of Downtown, with some assigned to specific zones and others serving as “floaters,” ready to respond to larger messes as needed.
“You just stay consistent,” Wimberly said. “There’s no great magic or science to it.”
A dispatch line allows local businesses to call PDP with concerns so they can deploy the Clean Team — or the nonprofit’s hospitality or outreach workers, depending on the call — quickly, said Jack Dougherty, the partnership’s senior director of strategic partnerships.
‘Pittsburgh is for everyone’
On a sunny day in early March, Daniel Jackson oversaw a four-man crew power-washing along Sixth Avenue. He looked on as a worker in coveralls sprayed down the sidewalk, then turned his attention to hosing out a nearby trash can.
Jackson is a site supervisor with Renewal, a Pittsburgh-based organization that gives jobs to people coming out of the criminal justice system.
The Renewal teams pressure-wash sidewalks and alleys and scrub graffiti from surfaces, Jackson said, as well as water the flowers in 166 planters throughout the area. They, too, are ramping up efforts for the draft and will have crews on hand for the event weekend.
“We’re just trying to bring more people down here, let them know Pittsburgh is for everyone,” Jackson said.
Projects to beautify Downtown started well in advance of the draft.
Market Square’s $15 million facelift began in April 2025. With a new steel-and-glass pavilion, additional seating, and improved lighting and paving, the revamped space will be ready before the draft. Also started a year ago and set to open in April is Arts Landing, a new $31 million outdoor civic space in the Cultural District. The 4-acre lot has a band shell, play areas, a great lawn and more.
A $3.4 million upgrade to Point State Park — which included repairs and improved lighting for the signature fountain — finished ahead of schedule.
New coat of paint
Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor coordinated with private partners to repaint three rusty railroad trestles at the border of Downtown and the Strip District, near the bus station.
O’Connor recalled driving around town before taking office in January and taking note of the trestles, which appeared long overdue for a new coat of paint.
“How many thousands of people go Downtown, go to the Strip District every weekend, and this is what they’re seeing?” O’Connor said. “The details matter to a lot of people.”
Those trestles are now painted black and gold, the colors of Pittsburgh’s trio of professional sports teams and the city seal. That seal and a historical Pennsylvania railroad logo will be emblazoned on the spans, too, said Jeremy Waldrup, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
“It’s things like this that change the look and feel,” he said.
During a media tour of upcoming Downtown improvements, Waldrup pointed out some of the 30 to 50 Downtown storefronts that will be filled with pop-ups or art installations for the draft.
The city’s Department of Public Works crews have put extra emphasis on Downtown and the riverfront trails in the lead-up to the draft, construction supervisor Michael Schmitt told TribLive.
City crews also are replacing dilapidated railings along Grandview Avenue on Mt. Washington, where visitors take in sweeping views of the cityscape.
Schmitt, wearing a yellow reflective jacket and with a measuring tape dangling from his pocket, was taking measurements last week on granite curbs Downtown that need to be replaced before the draft.
He pointed out a 14-foot stretch of curb along Fourth Avenue, near Stanwix Street, where the granite blocks are crumbling. Some seem to be missing altogether.
Crews will remove the broken pieces, replace the sand that sits underneath and install new blocks.
Repairs will be finished to greet visitors here for the draft — but they’ll also last about two decades, Schmitt said.
“We want to promote our city,” he said, pushing an orange measuring wheel and spraying a dot of paint to mark a spot where sloping granite curbs need replacing. “We want it to look nice.”
Volunteers have also stepped up.
Allegheny CleanWays, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating litter and illegal dumping, in September launched a regional cleaning and beautification effort called the Immaculate Collection, a play on the famed 1972 Immaculate Reception by Steelers legend Franco Harris.
The effort includes clean-ups along 50 miles of interstates and litter pick-ups in 50 neighborhoods. More than 400 tons of trash have already been collected, according to Allegheny CleanWays.
O’Connor said many neighborhood groups will host additional clean-ups around Earth Day, which falls the day before the draft.
While the Immaculate Collection strives to make the region look its best for football fans next month, officials also hope the effort will spur a litter clean-up movement that lasts beyond any single event.
“This isn’t just about the NFL Draft,” Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said during a press conference touting the clean-up effort. “It’s about the catalytic momentum that is built where people come together to not just pick up trash but to improve their community.”
As Caily Grube, executive director of Allegheny CleanWays, put it, “The Immaculate Collection doesn’t end in April.”
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Clean Team will still pound the pavement after the last football fans leave, keeping Downtown as clean as they can.
That’s just how Wimberly, the Clean Team’s leader, likes it.
“We do our part each day to make sure Downtown is in good shape,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not glamorous. But the reason why outshines that.”
Wimberly’s reason why is to make sure Downtown — the “heartbeat,” as he sees it, of the region — looks its best for people who live, work or visit Downtown.
“There’s no end to the work they do. It’s constant. It’s ongoing. These are the things we’re doing all the time, seven days a week, all year,” Dougherty said. “We’re just adding a little extra muscle for the draft.”
