Street Cleaning: America's BIGGEST Waste

[Jeronimo Mora]

Those of you who live in the Untied States are well aware of what I'm about to rant about. Street cleaning. I think it's the BIGGEST waste of time and resources EVER. The streets don't get clean. All this bull shit accomplishes is taking money from random citizens who don't care to read the signs. Granted, I've never gotten a ticket, but it gets pretty annoying having to park elsewhere because some asshole is driving a truck that is spraying hot water on concrete. I think the only purpose is to make revenue for the state.

[rook2c4]

I only wish they still cleaned my street, which they stopped doing some 30 years ago.
Living just down the street from a high school and a Burger King, I probably spend a good half hour every week picking up garbage discarded by students. I'd much prefer the city would spend the collected tax money on cleaning instead of wasting it on special interest group parades and other nonsense. While the downtown area gets plenty of attention, the residential areas are woefully neglected by the city.

[garageband]

I think the only purpose is to make revenue for the state.

I'm not following your math here.

[Jeronimo Mora]

I was exaggerating. But roughly $70 a ticket is the going rate in my area. I just think the whole idea of street cleaning is just BS.

[garww]

Streets were the waste of money : )

[garageband]

They sweep the streets in my little town periodically. It helps and I'm glad they do it. Nobody here is getting any tickets. Sounds like your quarrel is with Traffic and Parking Enforcement and not the very pleasant municipal service. Yeah, the Streets (or possibly Sanitation) Department and Law Enforcement - two largely independent activities and organizations. Matter of fact, next time you see a guy running one of those machines, give him a look, "Yo, bro, that gig sucks but you're kickin' it old school anyhow." We know that's a rough, stressful job and are damned glad not to have to do it. I don't remember seeing one in service that wasn't at least thirty years old.

[Bigduggieface]

I live in western Canada. Where I live the streets are normally pretty clean. Occasionally we have a snowfall where salt and rocks are deliberately laid upon the streets by the city to help traffic. Once the snow melts, there tends to be tiny rocks and debris all over the place.

City trucks around here are pretty good at sweeping up this sandy rubble from the street and leaving everything nice and clean. Only to be recycled and deposited on next year's snowfalls.

It's too bad that we still have people who will toss their garbage on the street. Empty cans, bags, soft drink containers, etc. This is a major peeve of mine but I suppose there are littering assholes in every country.

[Dahla]

It's too bad that we still have people who will toss their garbage on the street. Empty cans, bags, soft drink containers, etc. This is a major peeve of mine but I suppose there are littering assholes in every country.

+1

I've even heard one dude saying that he wouldn't stop doing that either because as long as he littered, people would have a job picking up after him.

[bozmillar]

If you've ever been somewhere where they don't do street cleaning, you probably wouldn't hate it as much. I was in a city in brazil that had random trash piles 6 feet high sitting in the middle of the road for months.

[garageband]

I've even heard one dude saying that he wouldn't stop doing that either because as long as he littered, people would have a job picking up after him.

Why doesn't this story end with, "... and then I punched him in the face."?

[Dahla]

Why doesn't this story end with, "... and then I punched him in the face."?

I know, it should...

[Jeronimo Mora]

Idk what machines your cities use, but all the ones in mine do is spray water on the ground and brush aside random trash.

[garageband]

Ours is pretty sharp. Does a decent job. I mean, it's not like you used a pushbroom or anything. The water's only there to keep the dust down. If you guy's just making it all wet, he's doing it wrong.