The Greater Hillcrest Clean and Safe Zone

The GH Clean and Safe Zone is an area where neighbors have opted to work together to fund security and cleaning services. The following services are provided within the Greater Hillcrest Clean and Safe Zone:

Daily sidewalk trash pick-up:

The HBA provides sidewalk trash pickup services Monday through Saturday within the Clean and Safe zone. This services is from 7am through 12:30pm. The round green HBA trash cans are also emptied every day Monday through Saturday.

Monthly sidewalk power washing:

The HBA’s contractor provides sidewalk steam cleaning once a month throughout the Clean and Safe Zone. The service occurs within the clean and safe zone in the first two weeks of the month. The contractor has been certified by the City of San Diego Stormwater Department as meeting the strictest water reclamation guidelines.

Security service:

A walking patrol occurs in the Clean and Safe area every day of the week confronting law breakers and relocating troublesome people outside the zone. An after hours on-call service is available also with a 20-30 minute response time.

Security Hotline: (619) 666-4061.

  • A daily foot patrol in the Hillcrest Clean and Safe Zone from 8am through 4pm. Guards will walk the patrol area (supported by a patrol car) confronting people causing problems for the business community and relocating them outside the Clean and Safe Zone.

  • An after-hours on-call service, response between 15 and 20 minutes, outside the patrol time to address people causing problems on a case-by-case basis.

  • In case of emergency: 911.

Only businesses and property owners within the Hillcrest Clean and Safe Zone may call the security service.

Weekly Block Patrol:

Three times a week a team conducts a block patrol throughout the clean and safe zone. Equipped with paint, goof-off, scrapers, and weeding tools, they attend to larger issues that trash pick up. They paint out graffiti tags, remove stickers and playbills, and pull weeds.

The service typically occurs Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays (and occasionally Mondays) each week.

Weekly tree watering:

Every week, team HBA waters all the young trees in the neighborhood. Over 80 new trees are watered each week and the use of irrigation bags and flexipave allows for efficient distribution of water throughout the week.

The service typically occurs on Tuesday each week (rain dependent).

Interested in joining the Clean and Safe Zone?

The Hillcrest Clean and Safe Zone can be expanded. If your property or business is currently outside the Clean and Safe Zone and would like to be part of the district, you might be able to join. If your business or property is currently contagious to the Zone, you may be eligible to join. Reach out to us at info@hillcrestbia.org to see if you could be part of our Clean and Safe Program.

The Hillcrest Clean and Safe program is funded by the Greater Hillcrest Maintenance Assessment District. Special services can only be provided within the Clean and Safe Zone described. The GHMAD is a property-based assessment district that funds special benefit services over and above what the City of San Diego provides in the public right of way. The GHMAD is managed by a steering committee of property owners. Property owners who pay into the district can join this committee through an election process. Click here to see the agendas for upcoming committee meetings.

Hillcrest Clean and Safe:

The Greater Hillcrest MAD is an expansion of several older districts created decades ago. The maps below show what properties are within the district.

This is a proposal of the Hillcrest Business Association. The HBA is a nonprofit organization that has worked to improve Hillcrest for over 100 years. The HBA is responsible for the creation of the Hillcrest Sign, the Hillcrest Pride Flag, and Mural Alley. The HBA hosts the Hillcrest Farmers Market, CityFest, and other events like the Taste of Hillcrest. This proposal has worked in other neighborhoods and it’s not right that Hillcrest is left behind.