Window Cleaning Add-Ons, Dreams & Rock 'n Roll

Window Washing at Sky Level: Windows on the new Las Vegas City Hall reflect partly cloudy skies Monday. The building, under construction on Main Street downtown, is expected to be finished early next year. 

Erin Carr-Jordan, of Arizona, says she has visited and videotaped more than 50 such playlands as well as sending swabs for microbial testing. She says she’s found alarming conditions in rich and poor areas alike.

Arizona mom inspects, records appalling conditions: On a humid Monday morning, Erin Carr-Jordan was crawling through the tubey slides of a McDonald's PlayPlace on the West Side. When she got to the top of the colorful structure, she peered through a cloudy plastic window and mouthed the words: "This is bad. This is really bad." In recent months the 36-year-old mom and developmental psychologist from Arizona said she has visited and videotaped more than 50 such playlands as well as sending swabs for microbial testing. "Without a doubt, this was one of the worst and definitely in the top five," she said after climbing out of the tubes. "There was food everywhere."

A reporter crawled through a few minutes later to find sticky surfaces, filmy windows, several broken pieces of equipment, food morsels in every compartment, trapped hair, garbage and thick black schmutz in most crevices. Carr-Jordan, who is combining her playland testing with a family road-trip vacation, says she has seen similar conditions in many restaurants across the country. She's found that some fast-food companies regularly clean their playlands and are happy to provide customers with their cleaning protocols — she singles out Chick-fil-A — but that representatives of Burger King, Chuck E. Cheese's and McDonald's have either indicated they don't have any such protocols or have not responded.

Her activism began last spring after she followed her toddler through an Arizona McDonald's playground and was shocked by the filth. Several calls to the manager yielded no action, she said, so Carr-Jordan posted a video tour of the food- and graffiti-tainted structure on YouTube.

"It was unacceptable, completely unacceptable," said McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud, who said the video caught the attention of the restaurants' corporate offices in Oak Brook. "But it is not reflective of our business and our restaurants. As far as I'm concerned, it was an isolated matter. And we took immediate corrective action to thoroughly sanitize the PlayPlace." McDonald's says it requires the facilities to be thoroughly cleaned each day and the area kept free of debris and soiled surfaces. Burger King said its standards require "daily, weekly and monthly cleaning of playground equipment, pads and foams," as well as professional cleaning on quarterly basis.

Chick-fil-A corporate spokesman Don Perry said there are regular cleaning schedules for the establishments that offer play areas. And Chuck E. Cheese's said it has eliminated ball pits, requires that "all existing play equipment is cleaned with sanitizer" and removes graffiti. Both of these companies noted that hand sanitizer is available at the playlands. When the Tribune asked the companies whether they disinfect the areas with steam cleaning or other methods, none responded.

Carr-Jordan is videotaping and swabbing playlands in between visits to museums and friends as she travels cross country this summer with her husband and four children. Plans for her stay in Chicago included stops at the Field Museum, Navy Pier and at least three randomly chosen fast-food play areas. She said she's found alarming conditions in rich and poor areas alike.

Joan Rose, a co-director of the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment at Michigan State University, said she is not familiar with Carr-Jordan's findings but stresses that places that serve children need disinfection policies. "Kids often are exposed more (they put their hands in the mouth more often) and are also more vulnerable to more severe illness," Rose wrote in an email. "It is extremely important that the industry (like McDonald's), facilities themselves and states have good public health policies around cleaning and disinfection. These can be evaluated and monitored so we know we are achieving a safe environment for our kids."

University of Arizona professor Chuck Gerba, who is one of the nation's foremost authorities on germ transmission notes that children are major virus passers. "And viruses which cause diarrhea can survive up to a month on surfaces" such as playgrounds, he wrote in an email to the Tribune. "Bacteria like MRSA could also be transmitted by this route." Carr-Jordan has been sending her swab samples to a lab that she said found staphylococcus and other bacteria. Annissa Furr, a microbiology professor in Arizona, is working with her to collect and analyze the data to spur legislators to act on the issue.

"One of the ultimate goals is to put regulations in place that would require cleaning these places once a week or month or whatever comes back as necessary," Furr said. Public health departments currently inspect restaurants with food safety, not playground safety, in mind. Jose Munoz of the Chicago Department of Public Health said a city restaurant inspector could not cite a restaurant for a dirty playland. "But our inspectors do monitor for insect and rodent activity throughout the facility," Munoz said. "And if it happens to be in that area, the establishment would be cited."

New business steam-cleans Seattle trash cans — A new business called Steam & Clean has been launched to clean trash cans, driveways and tanks in an environmentally friendly manner. All water for cleaning is recaptured so there's no runoff into Puget Sound. Emily Wiewiorka, the company founder and president, said the business is going well and expanding as she finds new uses for her system. One company recently told her they had estimated it would cost them $200,000 to clean some oil tanks but she said Steam & Clean can do the job for much less, at $360 per hour. The business uses vehicles that look like garbage trucks. Rather than holding garbage, they hold 1,500 gallons of water, vacuums and filters. Trash containers are lifted into the truck and steam cleaned at 250 degrees Fahrenheit without chemicals or detergents. Wiewiorka said germs and bacteria are destroyed by the high temperature and the surfaces are left sterile. Wastewater from the process is filtered and cleaned in the truck, and then reused. Developing the first truck cost $300,000, and now Wiewiorka has ordered four more. She is committed to using local manufacurers and chose to have Kenworth and Heiser build the trucks.

Jim Hill, a technical consultant for the company, said using a local manufacturer is good for the economy but there's a downside: replacement parts that would be readily available from an Asian supplier must be individually made here and that adds time. Developing the first truck cost $300,000, and now Wiewiorka has ordered four more. The trucks can also handle small oil spills, window washing, flood waters, and cleaning tanks, barrels, driveways and walkways. Wiewiorka said brake dust, spilled oil and other pollutants can be sucked up by vacuums and cleaned inside the truck. Cleaning a trash can costs $3 per week per can. Windows cost $60 a month for a one-year contract, regardless of the size of the house. Steam & Clean charges by time. Wiewiorka, who lives in Redmond, got the idea for this business about a year ago when she was pregnant with her fourth child and sensitive to smells. In the U.K., where she is from, there are cleaning services for trash cans, but she couldn't find one here and saw a business opportunity.

She is a former corporate attorney who worked for 18 years in the private sector. She has lived in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. While living in Dubai, she helped one client with a global expansion. Money to form Steam & Clean came from her own sources and private investors. The time to create it came early in the morning, late at night and when her children were napping. "I'm the kind of person who just doesn't sit back," she said. "I like doing stuff. I saw the business opportunity there and I went for it."

Steam & Clean today has 100 customers, split equally between businesses and residential. It is doing a test for one city in this area to clean waste receptacles from cafes, bars, pubs and other businesses. Hill said restaurants and food businesses in this state are supposed to keep trash receptacles clean and hygienic, and face a $10,000 fine for washing them in the street. Spokane, he said, charges businesses $20 to swap out an old, dirty can with a clean one. Steam & Clean charges $3 to clean a can. Wiewiorka is pleased with the progress Steam & Clean has made. She's also happy to be in the U.S., particularly in the Seattle area. She said it has been quite easy to start a business here, compared to the Middle East where red tape and bribes are common. People here, she said, are receptive to new ideas. "You Americans might be a bit jaded but as someone coming into this country, people are very happy, very positive and very helpful," she said.

However, she said financing this type of business is tough. She said a person that's never done this kind of work before without private equity would likely not be able to get a business like hers off the ground. Wiewiorka has made a commitment to hire as many veterans as possible, but said it is hard to find qualified applicants. Even in a recession, this is a relatively affluent area so recruiting is tough, she said. She is hiring truck drivers, truck assistants, office workers and canvassers. Wiewiorka said she has become passionate about trash and cleanliness, but she sees a lot of opportunity here. "Because it's such an unusual service, it's the first of its kind of service, who knows where it will take us." previous blog on this service here.

Dreams Made Possible: The eagerly anticipated annual Martha's Vineyard Community Services benefit, the Possible Dreams Auction, takes place August 1. What will you bid on? Kayak While They Work - While the crew from Vista Window Cleaning and Painting Services washes your windows, screens and sills, owner Richard Cowen will whisk you and a friend away for a Kayaking Adventure on Squibnocket Pond. Have the ride of your life and maybe hook a striper. Return home to your sparkling windows.

John Lynch, a window cleaner of Hauppauge hits the Mulcahy's stage at the fundraiser for him two months after being inflicted with pancreatic cancer. 

Fundraiser at Mulcahy's Held for Levittown Native Inflicted With Pancreatic Cancer: Two months ago, Levittown native John Lynch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Upon hearing the news, his longtime friend Tom Scandaliato began to put together a fundraiser to help pay the medical bills of the business owner, husband and father. With the help of Scandaliato and Lynch’s sister Catherine Lynch-Golub, the fundraiser came to fruition this past Saturday at Mulcahy’s Pub & Concert Hall in Wantagh. “There are all sorts of bills he’ll have to pay like deductibles, fees, time off from work and whatever the insurance company doesn’t cover,” said Lynch-Golub. “I was so happy to hear that Tom was putting this together. It was all his idea and I was ready to help out as soon as I heard about it.”

Lynch, a Hauppauge resident, is the owner of Sparkle Window Cleaning, which services areas throughout Long Island. He is married to Meaghan Lynch and has a four year old son named Casey.

During the Saturday’s fundraiser, Lynch played the bass with bands that performed on the Mulcahy’s stage. At the end of the night he reunited with his band mates from Levittown Memorial High School and played for the first time since they graduated. Saturday’s Mulcahy’s fundraiser attracted hundreds of supporters of Lynch’s cause. The event took up the entire concert hall and the music never stopped playing. There was catered food for the guests and the bar was hopping.

Each person who came was able to participate in a raffle for various items such as a television set, Yankees tickets, Mets tickets and gift certificates. The largest raffle cost $20 while the smallest cost $2. Local businesses donated items to the raffles while family and friends provided the rest. There was also a silent auction of various sports memorabilia, ranging from jerseys to autographed photos to free dance lessons. “Tom just made calls to everyone he could and everyone was ready to come and help out,” said Lynch-Golub. John’s mother, Joan Lynch, only found out about the event two weeks before. “It was a nice surprise,” she said. “Everyone likes John; he gets along with people very well so a lot of people came here for him. Two people even flew in from California. It’s like a big reunion of family and friends.” Anyone looking to contribute to Lynch's cause can send donations to: John Lynch P.O. Box 976 Coram NY 11727.