These services have always been offered through their respective departments. The consolidation of over 15 phone numbers into one easy number helps streamline efforts and makes the City more customer-friendly. Now by calling the Action Line, a person will get to the person they need after only a few prompts, rather than being transferred from department to department.

"Clean neighborhoods and great customer service are top priorities for the City Council," said Mayor Bob Knight. "This hotline will provide an user-friendly mechanism for citizens to participate in helping us keep our neighborhoods beautiful."

The hotline works with a series of automated voice prompts that offer residents easy menu selections to report their concern. During business hours, a caller will be routed to the appropriate department and will speak to a staff member. After hours, a voicemail system takes requests that will be responded to on the next business day.

The Don't Trash Wichita initiative involves the enhanced nuisance abatement proposal (including the joint nuisance code), education campaigns to promote prevention, including cleaner neighborhoods and increased citizen-led neighborhood cleanup activities.

There are more than $1.6-million dollars a year in direct costs to taxpayers because of littering, illegal trash dumping and vandalism. It is a waste of money because the biggest share of it can be avoided. The Mayor and City Council have asked that the citizens and businesses of Wichita pitch in to help out. To succeed in keeping Wichita clean, this must be a cooperative effort with the community. Ideas on helping include:

• Pick up after yourself.

• Organize a clean-up effort in your neighborhood.

• Pick up one piece of litter or trash from a public place, like a sidewalk or parking lot, as you go about your daily routine.

• Dispose cigarette butts and chewing gum in the can, not on sidewalks or streets.

This hotline is part of the Don't Trash Wichita prevention campaign that began this week. With the spring weather, people often do spring-cleaning. This is a perfect opportunity to remind citizens of Wichita the proper place to take trash. A helpful tips insert was distributed to all Wichita citizens through the April 17 Wichita Eagle and as part of the program. It provides frequently requested information on where trash, including bulky items, belongs. There is an on-line version of the publication at the City's website at www.wichita.gov.

For additional program information and continual updates, call the Neighborhood Action Line at 529-9999 or visit the City's website at www.wichita.gov.