A little safer, a lot cleaner.

That’s the outcome across Tacoma so far since the city launched its “Safe And Clean” initiative more than a year ago, city officials say.

In an update this week to some city council members, assistant city manager Tansy Hayward touted the latest successes in the first round of the program that seeks to reduce crime and rid the city of blight.

“It’s a pretty good story on the crime side of things,” Hayward said Thursday. “We’re heading in the right direction.”

“And with regards to the Clean goal, it’s really amazing.”

Since Safe & Clean was launched in April 2008, overall crime is down in Tacoma by about three percent, statistics show.

During the same time, the amount of trash, debris and junk collected across the city has risen dramatically — by about 36 percent in terms of tons collected pre- and post-program.

Launched in April 2008, Safe and Clean seeks to enhance collaboration across city departments and utilize citizens to focus on two primary goals: Reducing crime by 50 percent in 14 months, and eliminating the city’s nuisance and blight.
In the first round of the program, 23 teams consisting of more than 100 city employees and 30 citizens worked together on a rage of issues.

For the next round, which is now underway, 17 new teams have formed, primarily focusing on crime issues.
During a progress report given to the City Council’s Government Performance and Finance Committee on Wednesday, Hayward presented the following findings:

SAFE (Crime statistics)
Month-to-month comparison:
Pre-Safe and Clean (April 2008) Total crimes*: 2,697
Post-Safe and Clean (June 2009) Total crimes*: 2,234
Percent Change: -17
12-month cumulative comparison:
Pre-Safe and Clean (7/2007-6/2008) Total crimes*: 33,411
Post-Safe and Clean (7/2008-6/2009) Total crimes*: 32,466
Percent Change: -3

CLEAN (Trash collection statistics)
Total collection- all clean-up activities**:
Pre-Safe and Clean (7/2007-6/2008) Total tons: 1,424
Post-Safe and Clean (7/2008-6/2009) Total tons: 1,921
Percent change: +36
Collection through community clean-ups:
Pre-Safe and Clean (7/2007-6/2008) Total tons: 33
Post-Safe and Clean (7/2008-6/2009) Total tons: 555
Percent increase: +1,581

Read more the Safe and Clean progress report in tomorrow’s paper.