Street-Sweeping Expansion Adds 750 Miles in Valley

In the largest expansion of the city’s street-sweeping program in 20 years, more than 900 miles of roads that had been swept only occasionally will be cleaned regularly, under a new policy announced Monday.

The San Fernando Valley will benefit most from the $2.7-million program, with about 750 curb miles added to its areas of regularly cleaned streets.

Under the program, streets will be posted with parking restrictions that will allow for regular street cleaning.

A small number of streets were added to the program in 1994, but no major expansion has taken place since 1976, said William White, assistant director of the Bureau of Street Maintenance.

“This is the first time in many, many years that there has been a concerted effort to increase the miles that are posted,” said White. “Optimally, we would like to have the city’s entire 13,000 miles of streets posted, but that’s not a reality at this point.”

“We are constantly receiving complaints from people who say they haven’t seen a street sweeper on their streets for a long time,” said Councilman Richard Alarcon, who, as chairman of the Public Works Committee, led the drive to expand the program.

“People deserve their streets to be cleaned. It’s not healthy to let garbage sit in the gutter for weeks at a time.”

In North Hollywood on Monday, officials posted the first of 30,000 signs that will go up citywide to alert residents that regular sweeping has arrived on their streets. It will take roughly one year to post signs along the 900 miles, officials said.

The reaction was mixed among North Hollywood residents who learned their neighborhoods would be the first to receive the extended services.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Mario Florez, 54, who lives on Elkwood Street.

“When I moved here it was a nice area. Now it’s going to downhill,” Florez said, adding that regular sweeps might force his neighbor to move an old yellow car that has been parked in front for six months.

Other residents said they were concerned about how new signs up and down the block might affect the look of their streets.

“I think it would be nice to have the street cleaned,” said Anna Fontana. “I just don’t know about the signs in front of the house.”

Guy Aguirre, whose house on Ben Avenue featured four cars out front, said parking restrictions would be an infringement on property rights.

“It is not going to make the streets cleaner,” Aguirre said.

“You’re going to get a ticket for parking right in front of your property? It’s just more money for the city. That’s the way the system is set up.”

Others worried that eliminating an entire side of a street one day a week would lead to major parking headaches.

But White believes clean streets are worth it.

“In the areas where there are high population densities there will be some inconveniences. But we believe the benefits will by far outweigh that because residents will have clean streets,” said White.

“We try to do it in a way that residents are not inconvenienced. But you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs,” White said.

Alarcon, whose district currently has regular sweeping on only 7% of its streets, has fought for years to get the city to expand the program. Last year, the City Council rejected his proposal to allow neighbors to voluntarily pay a one-time $50 fee to bring the program to their streets.

To pay for servicing the new areas, which include both residential and commercial streets, the city will tap $2.7 million in surplus sewer maintenance funds. The money will pay for new sweeping equipment, increased personnel and posting street signs.

The signs will serve as reminders to people that those who fail to move their vehicles during the regularly scheduled two- and three-hour cleaning periods will be ticketed.

In subsequent years, the new services are expected to cost the city roughly $500,000 annually, officials said.

“There was some discussion of whether that was an appropriate use of the [sewer] funds. But if the gutters are not clean then that stuff ends up in our sewers,” Alarcon said.

About 45% of the city’s approximately 13,000 curb miles are currently included in the weekly street-sweeping program.

The remaining 55% of city streets are swept every three to five weeks, officials said. Those streets often do not receive thorough cleanings, however, because drivers of the sweeper trucks are forced to maneuver around parked cars, leaving much of the trash unswept.

In most of the new areas, street cleaning has been scheduled to follow garbage collection by one day.

In evaluating the current program, Alarcon said, the Public Works Committee found that the Valley had the largest percentage of unswept streets in the city.

“I tried to do this in a way that would be fair to all of my colleagues on the council,” Alarcon said. “It was clear that the Valley was not getting equitable service. Now we’re spreading the load.”

With enough funding to add 900 miles, the goal of the committee was that by the end of the fiscal year each council district would have a minimum of 25% of its streets in the program, Alarcon said.

Every council district except the 10th, which already has regular sweeping on all of its streets, will receive at least five miles of new service under the committee’s plan.

Hal Bernson’s 12th District, with 225 curb miles, will have the most new territory included in the program, according to figures released by the committee.

Alarcon’s 7th District will get 200 curb miles, while the 3rd and 11th districts, represented by Laura Chick and Cindy Miscikowski, will receive 160 and 150 curb miles respectively.

Times staff writer Jose Cardenas contributed to this story.