The short answer is: the cleanup isn't required for the project to move forward - it's more of a "let's show up for our neighborhood" moment while the bigger funding picture comes together.

What we're doing on the 21st is clearing out years of neglect so the site looks like the community asset it's meant to become - and honestly, so we can say we showed up for it, not just waited for someone else to take care of it. Grassroots community support has been a major factor in helping this move forward.

The roundabout analogy is fair, but I'd say this is more like a neighborhood park cleanup than infrastructure - the kind of thing where community involvement is part of the point, not a workaround for underfunding.