CCob
July 27th, 2008, 09:51 AM
AS if part of a carefully choreographed dance, at strict intervals, countless New Yorkers run from their homes and move their cars from the right side of the street to the left and from the left to the right. These rituals of alternate side parking, enforced by hefty fines and humiliatingly fluorescent window stickers, help make way for the Department of Sanitation’s street sweepers, which pass through our neighborhoods every day except Wednesday, when everyone gets a reprieve.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/13/nyregion/nelson.inline.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/07/13/nyregion/13nelson.ready.html', '13nelson_ready', 'width=382,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))John Hendrix
But even though New Yorkers dutifully surrender their coveted parking spaces to accommodate the Sanitation Department, street cleaners don’t always, well, clean the streets. After the plumes of dust whip by and the mechanical brooms maneuver loudly past, a glance at the curb line often reveals debris, paper and grit that the sweeper failed to collect — much to the frustration of car-moving residents and, indeed, any of us who suffer through these malodorous days of summer.
Almost three hundred years after Benjamin Franklin first organized street sweeping in Philadelphia, cleaning our curbs remains an essential service and a daunting task. The city spends $16 million annually to sweep approximately 47,400 scheduled routes, which cover more than 6,000 miles of roads. Imagine sweeping from New York City to Los Angeles and back, every day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13nelson.html?ref=opinion
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/13/nyregion/nelson.inline.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/07/13/nyregion/13nelson.ready.html', '13nelson_ready', 'width=382,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))John Hendrix
But even though New Yorkers dutifully surrender their coveted parking spaces to accommodate the Sanitation Department, street cleaners don’t always, well, clean the streets. After the plumes of dust whip by and the mechanical brooms maneuver loudly past, a glance at the curb line often reveals debris, paper and grit that the sweeper failed to collect — much to the frustration of car-moving residents and, indeed, any of us who suffer through these malodorous days of summer.
Almost three hundred years after Benjamin Franklin first organized street sweeping in Philadelphia, cleaning our curbs remains an essential service and a daunting task. The city spends $16 million annually to sweep approximately 47,400 scheduled routes, which cover more than 6,000 miles of roads. Imagine sweeping from New York City to Los Angeles and back, every day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13nelson.html?ref=opinion