Valleywide : Street-Sweeping Plan Gets Preliminary OK

A Los Angeles City Council panel gave preliminary approval to a plan that would let residents pay a one-time assessment fee to add street sweeping in areas that the city currently doesn’t clean.

The Public Works Committee voted Monday to instruct the city attorney’s office to draft an ordinance that would set up Councilman Richard Alarcon’s street-sweeping plan. Alarcon’s proposal would provide street sweeping in areas where neighbors voluntarily agree to pay a one-time $50 assessment.

The idea now awaits final approval by the full council.

Alarcon, who represents parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley, said he proposed the idea because the financially beleaguered city cannot afford to sweep all the streets in the city.

In his district alone, he said, nearly 1,200 miles of streets are swept only once every five weeks. The problem in most cases is that the city has not installed signs that prohibit parking on days the streets are swept, Alarcon said.

To add street sweeping to a neighborhood under the program, a majority of the residents must agree to pay the $50 fee through a property assessment.

To make the program financially feasible, the city must get the approval of neighbors along at least 100 miles of streets. The cost of adding sweeping to 100 miles of street is $376,600, which would pay for parking signs, a sweeper and workers’ salaries for a year, according to a city report.

Alarcon said he has already suggested the idea in discussions with neighborhood groups in his district and has received a positive response.

“They have said: ‘Sign me up,’ ” he said.