ESCONDIDO: New street sweeping restrictions may go citywide

Pilot program deemed successful

By DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Friday, May 23, 2008 5:11 PM PDT ∞

Escondido city employee Jonathon Hinchliff drives a street sweeper around parked cars as he makes his way south along Ivy Street earlier this week. (Photo by Don Boomer - staff photographer)

ESCONDIDO ---- Now that city officials have deemed their first experiment with neighborhood street sweeping a success, they must decide how quickly to expand the program citywide.

Escondido is one of the last large cities in the state to create parking restrictions for street sweeping, so most local residents are not familiar with being forced to move their vehicles once a week so that sweeper trucks can thoroughly clean streets.

But a pilot program launched last October in three of Escondido's urban neighborhoods has been deemed a success.

City officials said the streets are much cleaner in the pilot areas: Elder Place, the eastern portion of the Park Place neighborhood and part of the so-called "flower streets" area bordered roughly by Iris Way, Midway Drive, Washington Avenue and Aster Street.

They also said that fewer pollutants are traveling into storm drains in those neighborhoods, which helps make local waterways and beaches a bit cleaner.

While more than 600 parking tickets have been issued since the program was launched, city officials said complaints have been relatively minimal.

The problem will be finding the money to buy the extra sweeping trucks and hire the extra employees required to implement a citywide street sweeping plan. The city would need to go from two sweepers up to four or five to cover the whole city, said Rich O'Donnell, the city's deputy director of maintenance and operations.

"We have a limited number of people and sweepers right now," said O'Donnell, who oversees the program. "We don't want to create the restrictions and not do the sweeping. If I say I'm going to be in your neighborhood sometime between 8 and noon, then I gotta be there."

Expanding citywide would also require thousands of signs announcing the restrictions and the hours that parking would be prohibited. The three pilot neighborhoods cover less than one percent of the city, but they required 150 signs at a cost of $4,200, said O'Donnell.

City Manager Clay Phillips said expansion of the street sweeping program may have to wait because the city is still reeling from making severe budget cuts needed to close an $8.6 million deficit projected for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

"We're going to be looking at trying to expand it, but we have to wait until we get the money," Phillips said.

The city has had street sweeping machines for many years, but they have always had to contend with parked cars, which significantly limits their effectiveness, said Phillips.

"You can't clean your streets with cars in the way," said Phillips, explaining that he was shocked to find out last year that Escondido had no parking restrictions for street sweeping. "I didn't realize we weren't doing it already. I'm not aware of any other cities that don't do it."

O'Donnell said it is difficult to come up with a precise estimate of how much the expansion would cost, because city officials still have some key decisions to make.

They must decide how frequently to sweep neighborhoods, and whether they should sweep some neighborhoods less often than others based on traffic volumes and other factors that affect cleanliness, said O'Donnell.

The current plan calls for sweeping once every two weeks in high volume areas, once a month in medium-volume areas and once a year in low-volume areas.

"There is a lot of logistical fine tuning that needs to take place," said O'Donnell. "But we all know that it's the right thing to do. If the sweepers never get to the curb because cars are in the way, then chances are that a lot of things are going into the storm drains.

Cheryl Filar, the city's environmental programs manager, said the new street sweeping program has dovetailed well with more aggressive stormwater management restrictions that local cities are facing.

State officials are now reviewing stormwater management plans submitted by individual cities, said Filar, explaining that Escondido's plan included aggressive street sweeping.

City Councilman Ed Gallo said money spent on street sweeping will probably yield savings in the long run, because the city will probably be able to avoid some pollution fines with more thorough sweeping.

City officials conceded that some residents in the pilot areas have probably been annoyed by the new restrictions, but residents interviewed this week did not complain.

Benny Herrera, president of the Park Place neighborhood group, said people have slowly become accustomed to moving their cars on Mondays for the sweepers.

"Some people complained at the beginning and they didn't pay attention to the signs," said Herrera. "But now that it looks a lot cleaner, I have heard less complaints."

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.

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Pre-Registration Comments[-]Go to Top

Lisa wrote on May 23, 2008 1:41 PM:And the games continue. Geez Louise. I do believe that our city officials think the majority of its' residents are walking around without brains.

Just the name of the story and the first paragraph incited those comments...I be back when I can stomach reading the entire story. And it is just that "A Story"...told by our Council...the biggest "Story Tellers" of all. I sense a little "back-peddling"...of course, our council back-peddles on a ten-speed. Holy Cow!


Excuse me wrote on May 23, 2008 2:02 PM:but you are not sweeping Aster Street at least not the 500 block where it is greatly needed.

Charlie wrote on May 23, 2008 2:22 PM:Another excellent program by the City Council. The city ought to install no parking signs for trash pick-up days too. And no overnight parking signs while they are at it. With no on-street parking, two days and every night, residents may just use their garages, driveways, and apartment parking lots. Escondido's streets might get cleaned up yet. How long will it be before the whiners come on with their "no to everything good" attitudes?

Whatever just dont wrote on May 23, 2008 2:42 PM:make the mistake of thinking that, just because the sweeper has passed, it's ok to park on the street. If the signs say no parking from 10-2, even if the sweeper passes at 10, you can't park there until after 2 or you WILL get a ticket. And if you try to fight it, they will ask you if you know how to read a sign.

OldFashioned wrote on May 23, 2008 3:09 PM:It's easy to sweep around parked cars if you do it the old fashioned way, on foot carrying a long handled broom. Why not give the presiding judge in Vista a call? He'd probably be happy to send over a crew or two. They're already busily working in our parks.

Observer wrote on May 23, 2008 5:37 PM:Amen, OldFashioned. In the richer neighborhoods, Jose the landscaper uses his leaf-blower to clear the street, while his wife/m-in-law in the poor neighborhood gets out there every a.m. with a broom to clear the entrance to his hovel. The trouble in in the middle-class 2-incomes-2.5-kids neighborhoods, where nobody's home during the day. Who does their streets? Maybe jail-labor is the answer.

prof wrote on May 23, 2008 10:34 PM:Government funded street sweeping = HUGE BOONDOGGLE!

Please Please Please wrote on May 23, 2008 11:33 PM:Just moved to a neighborhood that NEEDS street sweeping. God forbid the residents take out a broom and toss the debris in a garbage can!!!

I heard the sweeper once (last week) and was pleasantly happy. Then I noticed all of the cars in it's way. What good are the sweepers if they can't do their job properly. How frustrating for the driver.

Yes to the regulations and yes to the signs. They though NEED to be in both English AND Spanish :-)

Mike From Oregon wrote on May 24, 2008 3:35 AM:Hear is a idea. Take all the punk gang bangers that get caught spray painting and give them a broom a shovel and lets say 100 hours community service for the first arrest. With all the punk gang bangers it wouldn't take long to clean up Escondido.

Joseph wrote on May 24, 2008 6:13 AM:It makes no difference.My fine ride rests majesticly on the front lawn anyway.

Nick wrote on May 24, 2008 8:06 AM:Has anyone asked the big question yet? Who owns the company that received the sweeping contract? And, who do they know on the council? Sorry, that's just the way things get done in Escondido. Just look at how the DBA was created!

To Nick and others wrote on May 24, 2008 9:38 AM:If you read the photo caption, it refers to a city employee who is driving the street sweeper -- I conclude from that there is no outside company doing the work. Also, Escondido is the first city I've lived in where there is no ordinance to get cars off streets at a certain time so they can be swept. Last, the street sweeper vehicles are as common as Fords on a used car lot -- thousands of cities and jurisdictions have used them for decades, including the little one-horse town I grew up in. It's about time Escondido got around to doing the same.

Native wrote on May 24, 2008 10:00 AM:First off, get rid of the law breakers. We all know which ones I'm talking about. Once this is done, most of the problems will have been taken care of. After a short time period of adjustment, we can go in and fix what problems are left over!

Easy as that.

Charlie, most the people who park on the streets in this town are using their garages. Where do you think the 14 people who live in what the city thinks is a 2 bed 1 bath house are sleeping?

Idea wrote on May 24, 2008 10:04 AM:Don't buy two more sweepers! Just run night crews with the two sweepers the City has now. Many Citys have night crews.

prof wrote on May 24, 2008 10:45 AM:And those night operations make massive noise pollution at 2am, when people - you know - sleep.

Idea wrote on May 24, 2008 12:16 PM:No different then the Choppers in the air as well as the gun shots at that time.

ticketed on aster wrote on May 24, 2008 1:53 PM:To excuse me: The sweeper does indeed hit the 500 block of aster. I got a ticket last week for my car being in the way. Imagine that. Charging a single mother who is technically considered by the law to be homeless $40.00 for a ticket. I Don't have anywhere to park BUT on the street. I dare not park my car in the alley. I will come back and it will be gone. I think the slobs who don't live in the Beige and Blue apartments are to blame for the mess 5 minutes after the sweeper comes by.

Lisa wrote on May 24, 2008 8:14 PM:I'm alright with the street sweeping ordinance. I "can live with" taking my car off the street once a week at a certain designated time for the street sweepers. That seems fine.

What I don't like is: 1) Our own City Manager (I said "Manager", who is paid $217,865/yr) was shocked to find out last year that Escondido had no parking restrictions for street sweeping. He said he "didn't realize we weren't doing it already. I'm not aware of any other cities that don't do it". OMG...our own city mgr didn't know that. Like the commercial goes: "I wonder what else" he doesn't know! That is SAD...no wonder we have so many issues!!! 2) It bewilders me still how our city "comes up with these great ides"...but, doesn't have a clue how to pay for it (or the cost)...and despite the fact that the City is $8.9 million in the red!! 3) I know that city staff recently reported that they will have to adjust the current street sweeping schedule because THEY CAN'T KEEP UP WITH THE SCHEDULE...SO how in the world will they keep up with the schedule for the ENTIRE CITY. 4) I am not blind...and I know that the "Brain Children" behind this are: Abed, Gallo, Waldron & Daniels. They have been blowing the parking ordinance (because of their disorganization and horrible leadership)...so now they are looking at other ways to "improve our Quality of Life". I'm soooooo sickkkkk of those four...I'm looking forward to helping EXPOSE their weaknesses and getting someone new into office - This City desperately needs some REAL LEADERSHIP! Leaders that research and organize BEFORE they LEAP!!!

Where does City Manager Live wrote on May 24, 2008 10:18 PM:He must not live in Escondido!

NIck wrote on May 25, 2008 10:20 AM:Yes I know it's a city employee driving the truck. Unlike some site bashers we have trolling the letters site I READ the story before I post MY opinion. I'll make it a bit clearer for the slower crowd... Ask who owns the Contract (They bought the trucks from somewhere) that the City of Escondido is dealing with.
Is that a bit clearer for the slow crowd?

fess up nick wrote on May 25, 2008 11:18 AM:The "slow" crowd knows the difference between sweeping and sweeper. Your original question asked: "Who owns the company that received the sweeping contract?" Not sweeper, as in trucks; sweeping as in work. How on earth could anyone literate conclude you were referring to truck equipment? Have the decency at least to admit you misread the story -- all of us do so at one itme or the other. Leave the contradictions and denials to the politicians.

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