Vancouver cleaned up ahead of FIFA World Cup starting

As Vancouver gets ready to host fans from around the world for the FIFA World Cup, some may notice that the city is looking a lot cleaner than perhaps it has in the past.

On the Granville Street strip, which is now closed to vehicles and buses, every piece of trash is being picked up and a hand-washing station has been installed.

In Yaletown, new sanitation carts have appeared on the streets and sources tell Global News that as many as 80 city workers are temporarily redeployed to clean-up duty.

For the first time in many years, the Plaza of Nations has been cleaned up with new art and flags and fresh paint.

Derelict boats from northeast False Creek have all sailed down the inlet, past the Cambie Bridge.

With five government agencies sharing responsibility for False Creek, derelict vessels have been a perennial problem.

“We often get bogged down and quagmired in our own cross-jurisdictional issues,” Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said.

“The city is definitely a willing partner.”

Kirby-Yung said they hope these moves lay the groundwork going forward.

“I think it’s really been a question of priorities and for our council,” she said. “It definitely has been a right-sizing of some of those functions. This is definitely a trend that we want to see continue.”