Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Darren May 28 2009, 10:16 PM

Having just come back from a week in San Francisco I can't help but notice how much dirtier our side-streets are. One of the problems seems to be that huge stretches of roads never get swept due to parked cars. In San Francisco they have an answer to that. Most roads have signs such as "No parking 8am - 10am daily for street cleaning" or No parking Tuesdays 2pm - 4pm for street cleaning. Anyone ignoring the orders are towed away.

Would such a system work here? Perhaps tie it in with refuse collecting days with the sweepers following along behind?

Posted by: AmieB May 29 2009, 09:25 AM

Theres nowhere to park now let alone preventing it for street cleaning!! All though i do think what they do is a good idea.

Posted by: GrumblingAgain May 29 2009, 10:01 AM

I doubt it.

There would be howls of protest that no-one "was told", there were no "leaflets" left the week before, it "wasn't in the papers" etc.

Look at all the complaints over our rubbish collections, especially when the company made it clear they would collect one day later after a bank holiday - remember the whinging on here when people got caught out by that and thought it was everyone else's fault.

As for parking and being towed away, motorists around Newbury don't see road signs or notices and certainly won't abide by motoring laws like temporary parking restrictions. The moment a car gets towed away for being parked where the sign said don't, the legal eagles will be out there looking for illegal signage where the sign or font was the wrong size by a millimetre or two. Either that or it will all be the councils fault for invoking some cash cow.

Nice idea but not for Newbury!

Posted by: TallDarkAndHandsome May 29 2009, 10:07 AM

It would help if the street cleaners employed by Viola were a little more 'pro-active'. One of them who sweeps in Bartholomew Street spends all his time speaking with his mates or eating..

Posted by: Darren May 29 2009, 11:16 AM

West Mills is a classic example of where it would work. There is plenty of parking nearby both on-road and off-road.

There must be years worth of dead leaves at the curbs, blocked the drains up but it never gets cleaned due to the amount of parked cars.

In San Francisco the locals generally move their cars just before the sweeper arrives, then go around the block and park in the same place behind it. They have much worse parking too.

Posted by: Gumbo May 29 2009, 11:54 AM

It would also help if they didn't leave a trail of litter behind them.

Posted by: Jolie May 29 2009, 01:29 PM

Saw one yesterday along Monks Lane. He certainly made a good job of it but there were still bits of rubbish left behind especially where the driver had to go over a pothole and his brush left the ground.

Posted by: Andrea May 29 2009, 02:05 PM

I see your point. I'm originally from Canada and when living over there, once a year street cleaners in my city would sweep all the roads. They would put big white signs with bright pink flags attached to it on either end of the street informing anyone going down that street that street cleaning was to take place on a specific day (usually have the sign up for a week before the actual day) and that works a charm, there are times when some people forget, but usually only one person would forget to move their car on that day.

Posted by: GMR May 30 2009, 01:54 PM

I agree... our streets are a disgrace and something should be done about it.