As the city gradually reopens, mechanical street sweeping enforcement is set to resume

As the city gradually reopens, mechanical street sweeping enforcement is set to resume
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Mayor London N. Breed and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) today announced that the City will resume enforcement for parking violations related to street sweeping beginning on Monday, June 15.

Mayor Breed had announced on March 17 that SFMTA would not ticket for street sweeping following the Stay Home Order for COVID-19 in order to allow people to stay home without worrying about receiving a parking ticket. While the City had still encouraged people to move their vehicles if they could, street sweeping crews from San Francisco Public Works continue to see a large number of vehicles failing to do so, as many as 18,000 per day. Resuming enforcement for mechanical street sweeping is necessary to ensure that streets remain clean as the City begins to allow more businesses and activities to resume.

“At the beginning of the Stay Home Order we wanted to ensure that people who were sick were able to isolate themselves without needing to leave to move their vehicles,” said Mayor Breed. “Now as we’re reopening, we’ve reached the point where we must resume parking enforcement so that we can clean our streets. We’ll of course continue waiving tickets for people who face issues related to COVID-19.”

“Our agency’s main objective during our COVID-19 response was to promote safety and minimize risk to San Franciscans,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “As more businesses open up and more residents return to work, now is the right time to ensure our streets are clean and ready to support economic activity.”

“We certainly understand the needed pause on street cleaning enforcement during the early months of shelter in place, but there have been consequences. Our mechanical sweeping crews have not been able to do as thorough a job cleaning, resulting in more litter and leaves on the streets,” said Acting Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried. “As the City is slowly starting to reopen, we once again can provide the service San Franciscans expect and deserve.”

Published June 05, 2020 at 09:18PM
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