Los Angeles:
Whose Streets Get Cleaned, and Who Cleans the Streets?

Aug 4, 2025

A non-profit company, Chrysalis, employs workers who clean the streets of downtown Los Angeles, paying them wages ranging from $17 to $25 per hour. The hourly living wage in Los Angeles County is about $28 for one adult with no children, as calculated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). So, Chrysalis’ pay for these street sweepers is not enough to sustain a decent life in Los Angeles.

Chrysalis is a contractor for the so-called Business Improvement District (BID), financed by the Los Angeles Arts District businesses, one of 40 BIDs operating in the Los Angeles area. BIDs are also non-profit companies, “supplementing” the city services such as public safety, maintenance, street cleaning, marketing, and capital improvements, according to their website. BIDs are funded by the fees paid by property owners and businesses located in their districts, which are tax deductible. This is a scheme that has been set up to benefit only the business owners.

The City of Los Angeles laid off more than half its personnel assigned to street cleaning during the 2008 recession. Those still working usually only clean the districts where wealthy people live.

The City charges the cleaning costs to workers through our taxes, and, unlike businesses, we cannot deduct such expenses to reduce our taxes. So, we also pay for the cleaning of business district streets, while our streets are neglected.

Today, workers with meager wages clean and pick up garbage on the streets of the ultra-modern, rich area so that their businesses look ever attractive to their customers.

Capitalism creates oases serving the rich and a hell for workers.