City Councilman alleges sign pollution results from street sweeping program

August 29, 2001
Santa Paula City Council

The City Council got an overview of street sweeping and added their own comments - including one councilman saying the city has “sign pollution” - about the program at the Aug. 20 meeting.

By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe City Council got an overview of street sweeping and added their own comments - including one councilman saying the city has “sign pollution” - about the program at the Aug. 20 meeting.Acting City Manager Norm Wilkinson, the director of public works, said it takes about two weeks to “sweep the whole town,” and all streets are targeted for sweeping twice a month.A “Few critical areas,” including the downtown business district, the area of Santa Paula Union High School, and Harvard Boulevard are swept more often. “Downtown we try to hit twice a week,” he noted.Signage to control parking during a four-hour probable sweep schedule is on certain streets that contain a higher number of parked cars; a rotating schedule ensures that both sides of the street are not restricted during the same time period.Police Community Service Officers work with the sweeper operator at least once a month to issue citations for those who do not adhere to the no parking sweeper schedule.
The street sweeping program - mandated by law - is conducted to offset the discharge of trash into storm drains and to protect water quality.“The opinion of staff is that the program is being effective in no small measure to the signage program,” noted Wilkinson, although there have been incidents where the signage is removed.“Because of the program we have sign pollution now,” unlike other cities he investigated, said Councilman Rick Cook. “Get rid of some of these ugly signs. . .some streets are getting swept more than others because of citations.”Cook said there are no tickets issued in other city locations where there are vehicles parked illegally, while “other streets have not been swept for eons. . .I think we need to scrutinize,” the program.Signage has been limited to areas where there are large numbers of parked cars, said Wilkinson, and “essentially, every block has one parked car on sweeper day.”Santa Paula has a higher density than other cities which requires more street parking in some neighborhoods, said Wilkinson.



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