Mechanical Street Sweeping Changes

DPW changed its Mechanical Street Sweeping Program by adjusting the frequency of sweeping on many residential streets. The changes save the City money and allow DPW to provide this service in a more effective manner.

'No Parking Due to Street Cleaning' signage changed to alert residents on affected streets between August 2008 and December 2008. The day of the week and the time of day of sweeping did not change, but instead the sweeper now visits some streets two times per month and not four.

Improving the way we do business

Several studies and reports have suggested that DPW's operations should be improved to keep the City clean. To ensure we are using your taxpayer dollars wisely, DPW studied its mechanical street sweeping program in 2008 by:

• developing standards for its mechanical street sweeping program
• publishing a Street Maintenance Standards Manual and Evaluation Form to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness
• soliciting an objective analysis of our work comparing it to best practices in other cities and against industry standards by hiring an independent consultant
• considering the Controller's Annual Report on Parks, Streets, and Sidewalk Maintenance, which suggests changes to the program based on data that rated some streets clean just before scheduled mechanical sweeping
• considering the results of the Controller's City Survey

DPW changed the frequency of mechanical street sweeping on streets where data and customer feedback indicate that we can adjust our schedules with minimal impact on cleanliness. In addition to the above, the department considered:

• residential density
• street cleaning service requests to 311
• staff observation
  

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