We'll second that... last time I used those stairs I had to hold my breath... the smell of human urine was overwhelming and it was littered with trash. And the last time I used the elevator I felt like I needed a shower after.. the whole thing inside was sticky. Gross.

Permitting and Inspections assigned this issue to SCormier

Issue acknowledged and assigned to DPW.

Any progress on this? Just a couple days ago my neighbors were also talking about how dirty and unkempt the garage towers are.

The tower was cleaned just before Thanksgiving and is scheduled to be done again in February.

This will be put on a cleaning schedule - this issue is closed.

Looking forward to it, but I remain skeptical. I was there this morning and nothing has happened - it's been several months - this was first reported on July 16, 2015. It's not just a casual cleaning, You will need a power washer and several coats of paint - along with a maintenance schedule - it's not just casual cleaning. Included are all three access areas and the elevators. A simple objective walk through would confirm my comments. I can talk to Miro at the Bagel store about this in more detail if needed.

Can a city official please "Acknowledge" this Open report?

Stairs have been cleaned and will be put on a cleaning list - this issue is closed

How was this not on a cleaning schedule to begin with???

As I said earlier, the "quick fix solution" is not acceptable - I saw the place today and it's filthy. You need to power wash the entire place and paint it. Until you do this right I will not close this issue.

The stair towers are professionally cleaned 2 times a year, once in the spring and again in November. - This is scheduled to happen this summer - complete clean, wash and painting.

Looking forward to it.

This issue was recategorized from Other to Capital improvements and long-term projects.

@DPW can you please share the long-term plan for regular cleaning and maintenance with the public here?

DPW just explained the schedule three times here plus acknowledgements. It is not something that is going to happen soon. You have hundreds of people from all walks of life using the stair towers on a daily basis. There can not be a trash guard 24/7 following everyone around. The only thing the BPD will do is have anyone sleeping in the stairs to move along. By day three after all is painted and cleaned, it will return to what it is now. There's really no real cure to it. The more people that complain won't change anything. Threatening to talk to the city Mayor is just an ego trip to make you feel all high and mighty and think you can have things done when you snap your fingers. Personally, I don't spend but maybe 15 seconds in a stairwell and certainly don't dwell on and on about it. If it bothers one so much, park somewhere else. smh

All three stairwells we power washed in late October 2017. When the weather warms to be above freezing on a constant basis, the stair towers will be washed again. They are routinely walked on a daily basis to remove trash.

The Department of Public Works has resolved this request. Thanks for helping to keep Burlington a great place to live and work.

I think one of the issues is that there are no public restrooms on the Church Street Marketplace. If there are no bathrooms, it makes sense that people without other options use the alleys and stairwells. I frequently see men (I've never seen a woman - somehow they are more discrete) "relieving" themselves in the stairwells of the Marketplace Garage, the Garage itself and in the alley behind Kiss the Cook/Mac (between College Street and Leahy Way).

I just love how we pay taxes and lay out our expectations for how the City should be maintained and then our elected officials and those appointed by them more or less blow us off. Cleaning a heavily trafficked public space that acts as a gateway for tourists and for professionals here on business twice a year ~ especially when the issue addressed by Amanda is purposefully ignored because no-one wants to deal with it ~ is absolutely absurd. We've gone backwards since Bernie... and that aint a good thing. In the interest of maintaining this pace for what it was meant for, I second Amada's comment and perhaps we need to keep bringing this up at the virtual town halls and put our voting power behind it (and other issues that simply get brushed off). The intersectional issues here are not cosmetic, but systemic, and they ARE important. Park somewhere else? I don't think so. Take care of our City the way it deserves to be taken care of. Take care of our people they way they deserve to be taken care of. Clean the parking garage more frequently than twice a year and provide public restrooms on the Marketplace!!

The parking garage starirway has smelled like urine for 30 years. And public restrooms on the Marketplace would be a nightmare. Some people are really untruthful on here.

The public restrooms that were in the Church Street Marketplace Mall were just fine!! Usually clean and relatively free of debris, because there were cleaning crews that maintained them twice DAILY and they were in a VERY conspicuous location in the Mall, where security could keep an eye on them, so not a lot of trouble happened there.I know because I've lived here almost my entire life and frequented those restrooms as a single person and a parent. Thank goodness for that single occupancy family access/handicapped access bathroom that they had. So, no, public restrooms DON'T have to be a nightmare, as several decades of having them available has already proven.The issue of public access, however, begins and ends with the business owners and politicians, as homeless folks and other characters were actively prevented from having that access to the restroms in the Mall... so uh, yeah... the tower in the parking garage HAS smelled like @#$% and B.O. for 30 years because come folks were never granted full and equitable access to bathrooms. I am not sure who is being untruthful, Aris.

Lodestone you don't seem to know the difference between public and private. I worked in that mall for 3 years, those restrooms were private - not public. That's why they could actively keep out homeless and addicts. And THAT's the only reason they remained relatively clean.