Spring street sweeping begins April 14; watch for no parking signs
An annual rite of spring begins Tuesday, April 14 in Minneapolis as crews hit the streets for the comprehensive street sweep to clean up our neighborhoods and improve the environment. If you park on the street, you have a role to play too. Watch for "No Parking" signs posted on city streets and make sure to move your car to avoid a ticket and tow.
Crews will sweep about 35-40 miles each day (80 curb miles) and over the course of five weeks, sweepers will take care of all 1,100 miles of city streets. The City's comprehensive alley sweeping program began on March 30 and will continue until all alleys are done.
- "No Parking signs" – City crews will post "No Parking" signs at least 24 hours before sweeping any streets. Parking will be banned from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day a street is swept. The "No Parking" signs will be removed as soon as possible after a street has been completely swept to allow people to resume parking. Vehicles parked on streets designated for sweeping may be ticketed and towed to the Minneapolis Impound Lot . Business and commercial areas will be given priority each morning to restore critically needed parking as soon as possible.
- Phone calls to residents – Using the City's community notification voice messaging system, the City will make about automated phone calls each evening to let residents know their street will be swept the next day.
- Interactive Web tool – Beginning April 11, residents can go to the Street Sweep Lookup site to see which week their street is scheduled to be swept. The weekend before the sweep, residents can revisit the website to find out which day of the week the street will be swept.
Clean streets mean a healthier environment
Minneapolis is known for its sparking lakes and waterways and protecting and enhancing our environment is one of the City's top priorities. Street sweeping is one way we work to protect our environment because it keeps leaves and debris from clogging our storm drains and polluting our lakes and rivers. It also helps keep our neighborhoods clean and livable.
Anything that goes down a storm drain flows directly into our lakes and river, and decomposing plant material in the water encourages the growth of harmful aquatic plants and algae. Residents should not push leaves, grass clippings, or other debris into City streets – it’s bad for our lakes and waterways and it’s against the law.
April 9, 2009
Published Apr. 8, 2009
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