Bronx —

Joe Regina was walking through Westchester Square, touting the new merchants association and a much-needed city program to clean up the streets, when a passing teen dropped a soda can on the sidewalk.

Regina stopped midstride and hollered after the kid: “You do that at home?” The teen shot back, “Yeah, I do!”

Regina picked up the can, looking for the trash. “See what I mean?” he asked.

As secretary-treasurer of the new Westchester Square Merchants’ Association, Regina, who works at Quick Care Frame Repair, well knows the challenges facing the once-thriving northeast Bronx shopping district. But he and other local businesspeople are banking on the neighborhood’s resurgence, placing their hopes in their organization – and a new city program called Clean Streets.

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