Having to park somewhere else because of street sweepers may be frustrating, but think of it as a good thing. If you live in a place where you always see street sweepers, that means the city cares about staying clean and keeping pollution from its water. Sweeping weekly can be a preventative measure for saving money later. Keeping the streets clean should be a top priority for your city!
Neglected streets of Los Angeles
There are streets in Los Angeles that go a whole year in between cleanings! Can you imagine what that would look like? That has terrible effects on the environment. One-third of Los Angeles gets weekly street cleaning, while the rest does not. This is due to a few different things, but one of the main reasons is that cars have to be off the street for the scheduled street sweepings. If there are cars, then the area has to be skipped, and it’s often skipped until someone complains- “sometimes, less than once a year or when someone complains” said Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin.
How street sweeping saves money
It can cost the city a lot of money to maintain clean streets as we have talked about with New York, but it is worth it in the long run. It will cost more money to repair things that could have been prevented. For example in storm season, dirt, leaves, and trash get washed into the storm drains with all the rain. Once that debris gets into the storm drains, it then gets into local lakes and pollutes the environment and aquatic life. That polluted water source cannot be used anymore and will be far more costly to restore. Imagine when you see a lake that is murky, and it could have been crystal clear if properly taken care of.
What you can do
The biggest thing you can do is contact your local city government to take street cleaning more seriously (if you do not see weekly street sweeping already). If you manage a property, continue getting routine street cleanings even when it’s the rainy season. Although it is raining and that seems to be keeping things clean, the same stuff is getting into the storm drains. The main reason to have street sweeping is to prevent contaminants from entering the water supply. It is a secondary benefit to have the appearance of well-kept streets.
In your home, if you can collect your grass clippings from getting into the storm drains and use minimal amounts of fertilizers and pesticides that will keep fewer things from getting into the lakes.