Street Cleaning Season Begins In Two Days
Screen shot from Streets & Sanitation website
UPDATE 11:36 AM: New street cleaning schedule is posted at Streets & Sanitation website.
UPDATE 9:33 AM: Streets & Sanitation responds.
“We hope to have the street sweeping schedule posted soon,” says Matt Smith, spokesperson for Streets & Sanitation. “We have a lot of areas to cover so it might take a little time to get all of the components online.”
ORIGINAL POST: While Chicago’s street cleaning season is only 48 hours away from its official start on April 1st, the Streets & Sanitation Department has still not posted the city’s 2011 schedule for street sweeping.
As of midnight Wednesday, the Streets & San website still had a place holder image that simply stated, “Street Sweeping Information Is Still Being Updated.”
In addition, the link to the 2010 schedule is still active and is causing confusion with at least one ward office. One aldermanic staff member claims their office is getting calls from confused constituents who are unsure whether to believe the schedule posted on the ward’s website or the one posted at the city’s Streets & Sanitation website.
Many Chicago drivers rely on these street cleaning schedules from the city to make sure they move their cars and don’t receive tickets for this violation. In fact, in the recent past Streets & Sanitation officials have actively promoted the use of these online schedules by motorists.
The confusion might be mildly compounded by the fact that in some wards, street sweeping has already begun a few days before April 1st. In the 44th ward, for example, residential streets near Wrigley Field were scheduled for sweeping yesterday and today.
The reality is, not every block in the city gets swept the first few days of the season, so the best advice is to contact your local ward office or check your ward’s website for this year’s street cleaning schedule. In addition, be vigilant looking out for those bright orange paper signs warning drivers of the street sweeper’s return to your block.
This website reached out to the Streets & Sanitation Department for this story, but had not received a response by post time.
