Awesome – I can speak as a citizen of Santa Monica, and as someone who just moved his car from one side of the street to the other not two hours ago for street sweeping: A. It’s not a scam – street sweeping is done on every street, including industrial areas (usually at night); B. Santa Monica really wants to keep its streets clean because that’s one thing that’s very visible to tourists.
Without the threat of parking violations, no one would clear their cars for the sweeper and the debris and detritus would pile up rather quickly. Most of the trees planted here shed a lot, so our streets would get cruddy looking fairly quickly. On the side street next to my house, the trees shed so much that even weekly cleanings aren’t enough.
And even though I’ve lived here for 13+ years, I still have managed to rack up a few street sweeping tickets because I’ve forgotten I needed to move my car. So don’t feel too bad if you visit the city and end up getting a ticket because of confusing signs.
This thread is very illuminating for me. I thought everybody had street sweeping once a week. I live in Los Angeles and grew up in Orange County. Everywhere I’ve ever lived has had weekly street sweeping.
Pyper - it’s the reverse for me. I grew up in Los Angeles and now live in San Diego. No where I have ever lived has had street sweeping, and it always baffled me that only when I was going somewhere that parking was an issue was there street sweeping. We went to 3rd Street Promenade this weekend and I dropped by wife off, then drove down some nearby streets to just hang out and wait for her to call. That’s when I saw the signs and thought “is this some kind of BS scam?”. It’s especially annoying when you drive down a street that has lots of spots on one side and you get all excited, then park, look at the sign, and realize it is a “street sweeping” or “permit only” parking situation…and all the other cars on that side of the street already have tickets
It is not about the street sweeping it is about the parking revenue. I left my car out front and the street sweeper came by. I was ticketed AFTER the street sweeper came by. Why would the city of San Diego bother to ticket someone if the sweeper has already come by? Why didn’t they ticket me BEFORE the street sweeper came to serve as a deterrent to park on the street BEFORE the street sweeper comes by to get me to move my car?
It is a revenue scam. Can’t pass legislation to raise more taxes, so why not just write an edict and give parking enforcement more to do.
They ticketed you because they know that you definitely prevented the sweeper from doing a thorough job. If you moved your car before the sweeper came through, why would they need to ticket you? If you already got your ticket, what incentive would you have to move your car?
Aside: Since this thread was last active, I’ve been using my bike a lot more as my primary mode of transportation (before this, I lived where most places I went were walkable). And I’ve gotten a lot more flat tires in the past year than usual. The reason? My commute now is partly in the city of Cleveland itself, whereas in previous years it’s all been in the suburbs. And the suburbs do a better job on things like street sweeping.
That’s normally how it works here, as well. Thankfully, about a month ago, the street sweeper came by, but the ticketing person lagged behind a block, so I was able to hustle my ass out, move my car, and avoid the ticket. Were it done your way, I’d be out $60.
(I’ve also somehow not gotten ticketed despite forgetting to move my car and the street sweeper going by, and I’ve also been able to get out of at least two street sweeping tickets by claiming insufficient or missing signage. Our signs are not permanent here for most residential streets.)
That is quite interesting. The most useful bit is the last graph on that page (not the one that shows in preview).
That graph shows about a $10M chunk of revenue each year, divided evenly between “Parking Citations” and “Enforcement”. I’m assuming the latter is about permits and building violations. [ETA: it’s $5M, for citations alone]
It’s hard to argue that it’s not about revenue when the town publishes a graph that shows that fines are a critical part of revenue that would cause great distress if it were to not be there.
ETA: Looking closer at the colors of the chart, the orange seems to be “Storm Drain Fee” and not “Enforcement”. Nevertheless, there is about a $5M chunk that is all about “Parking Citations”
I live in NYC, a place that seems to be well-known for street cleaning parking restrictions. I have lived in three different neighborhoods - in only one of them was there street sweeping on residential streets. (They all had it on commercial streets full of stores.) That neighborhood was different from the neighborhoods without “street sweeping” in two ways - first, the neighborhoods without street sweeping were almost entirely one or two family houses, while the one with street-sweeping was mostly 4-6 family owner-occupied buildings and actual apartment buildings. Second , in the neighborhoods without street sweeping, the property owners are responsible for keeping the street clean - owners are probably technically responsible for this everywhere, but I’ve never heard anyone on a street with street-cleaning complain that they got a ticket for not sweeping 18" into the street. I’ve heard plenty of complaints in non-street sweeper neighborhoods. Especially when the owner got a ticket because the street is dirty under a car that hasn’t moved in weeks or months.
Sometimes they come by more than once during the morning. Typically the parking ban is in force between 8:00 and noon, and if they have time and the streets are particularly bad they will make a second pass.
Frankly, if they didn’t do street sweeping where we used to live, the place would be a mess.
The streets where parking is a problem are often where there are lots of people, and lots of people create lots of trash and litter. Any stuff that blows off the sidewalk into the street ends up permanently trapped at the curb by the solid line of cars. Without regular sweeping, that trash would keep piling up. Streets where there is ample available parking will have fewer people creating debris and fewer cars to trap that debris at the curb.
I’m going to guess the street sweeper reported the car blocking it’s path. I’m sure the city is not disappointed that they have to collect a fine, but it sounds like they don’t do a sweep (so to speak) with the parking patrol first.
Better than having a street full of crap. I don’t mind them, even if I forget every once in awhile. It’s not like you’re not forewarned about them and can’t look it up, at least around here.
Exactly. Occasionally, I’ve seen a car moved after the street sweeper moved through, and the difference between the swept and unswept parts of the street can be dramatic.
In my area, (South Bay suburbs of Los Angeles) parking enforcement drives behind the sweeper. If the sweeper has to go around your car, you get a ticket. If you move your car before the sweeper gets there, no ticket. If you park on an already swept street within the blocked out time, still no ticket (and it is explicitly stated on the city’s website that it is ok to park on an already cleaned street within the posted times). When I first moved there, there was sweeping, but no posted no-parking time, and the sweeper would just go around parked cars. The streets were filthy near the high traffic areas such as the park and the elementary school and the storm drains backed up every winter. The city posted signs a few years back and the difference in cleanliness is astonishing. NextDoor is still full of people bitching that it’s just a revenue scam, and my answer is shut up, pay the ticket and move your damn car next week.
On the other hand, back in the 80s, Hermosa Beach was notorious for generating a substantial chunk of their general revenue from parking tickets. One summer day my friend and I watched them come down his street 4 times during the 3 hour no-parking window.
@Tomsimtim you broke the law so quit whining and pay your fine. It’s not like the sweeping restrictions aren’t posted, and all the prior comments show why street sweeping is a necessity. Nobody has some god-given right to leave their personal property out on the street, that’s why cities used to (and many suburbs still do) ban street parking overnight. Much of Japan for example still bans overnight street parking, so anyone who buys a car must prove they have an off-street space for it before they can get their title/registration.
This is the reason a streetsweeper goes through my neighborhood once a month. But they don’t ticket cars that are parked on the street. I would like to see them do that, there are about half a dozen cars in the neighborhood that haven’t been moved in months.
But how does this show that the reason the parking citations are given is to scam people? Of course they’re going to show how the revenue is allocated. What else should they do with the money, hoard it?