Street cleaning this week and the city is in a towing mood
Sometimes they tow, sometimes they don’t.
Westover Hills and I assume some other neighborhoods as well are getting their streets cleaned this week and several reports on the Westover Hills Facebook of cars getting towed. Don’t ignore the signs the rest of the week. You’ve been warned.
Photo: Bryce Lyle
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Richard Hayes
When Richard isn’t rounding up neighborhood news, he’s likely watching soccer or chasing down the latest and greatest craft beer.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
I’d like to see them actually clean streets instead of just going through the motions inorder to justify towing cars and making money for the contract the city has with the towing company
The streets look worse after they ‘clean’ them
I live on a street that, while is technically a two way street, is one block long and used like a one-way with primary access off of a one-way street. The City installed only 2 temporary signs facing the wrong way and one of them was practically hidden in foliage. When they did come by to clean, they water jetted a bunch of trash into my front yard and now there is a mysterious streak of grease down the length of my street.
Bravo.
Mr. Moore is absolutely correct. The equipment used is generally ineffective and serves primarily to rearrange the debris in the streets. In it’s present form street cleaning is effective primarily as a vehicle for raising revenue for the city and towing contractors. Even in “leaf season” the wrong equipment is used – heavy duty front-end loaders rather than vacuum trucks. Street cleaning has become a “for show” effort and revenue generator rather than an effective means of debris removal.
It’s very hit or miss. I got towed at about 9am on 7/7. Over the following two days I saw multiple instances where the cars weren’t towed, just “cleaned around”. Yet my bulk trash pickup took eight weeks. DPW is a joke. Privatize it.
We have had overall positive experiences over the years with street cleaning and leaf pickup. If I’m not mistaken the street cleaning is required because we are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
I have more of a problem with the countless residents who leave stuff in the street to begin with. And at leaf pickup time, city wide you’ll see evidence that residents aren’t very good at all about following very clear and simple instructions. We are all directed to rake our unwanted leaves TO the curb, not past the curb and into the street: alas, too many people fail to grasp this simple directive, guaranteeing the blockage of storm water drain inlets and street flooding. My personal favorites are the ambitious folks who rake their leaves into the street and then actively stuff them down into the drains.
My feeling is that the leaf pickup service is completely redundant and should be eliminated. Residents would be better off using their heads, and protecting their wallets, by mulching their leaves and adding them to landscaping beds. Save money on mulch and fertilizer and even water during droughts.
Stuffa, we use/ mulch the leaves that fall on our property. However, we do rake up the leaves that fall onto the street for pickup by the City. We live on a fairly busy street that has street trees. The leaves that end up in the gutter are nasty, covered with black greasy stuff, which I assume is from oil, exhaust, brake dust, etc. We don’t want to add those to our garden or beds, so appreciate the City picking up that small amount.