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Does the city do a good job with the street cleaning and towing?
03/08/2012 7:49 AM by John M
A reader sent this in overnight:
I would be interested to know how many cars have been towed this week as a result of street cleaning in CH. My car was towed from N. 26th Street yesterday morning and when I parked it the night before, I didn’t see any street cleaning signs. It would also be nice if the City did a better job advertising street cleaning. $95 is an expensive bill to pay for something that wasn’t adequately advertised.
Many streets in Union Hill had no signs at all. On one block of 23rd the signs were on the wrong side of the posts and trees for reading; and one car on Burton Street which hasn’t moved in 3 months didn’t move for street cleaning and didn’t get towed.
We don’t get street cleaning on Glenwood.
Please tell me I wasn’t the only person to be towed this week:)
They’ve been changing the signs too (at least around my house.) When they don’t get to the street on the appointed day they just push it to the next day. It’s annoying. I’m just glad I didn’t get towed.
@ann, You can call the city and have them tow the car away–especially if it’s been there that long.
I think usually a pretty good job is done with posting signs but I agree – this time around there seemed to be much confusion and lack of signs.
In Oregon Hill, we see a lot of signs get ripped down (at least some by a few drunk students), then other students (including many commuter students) get towed. Then students complain, so the CIty stops towing, and the streets do not get cleaned. Then residents complain about the streets not getting properly cleaned, and the City attempts to clean the streets again. Then the signs get ripped down again….
It does seem like there should be better ways about communicating and enforcing street cleaning. For our neighborhood, it seems like it would make sense to get VCU and City eletronic communication more synced and coordinated to get the messages through to students.
On a more positive note, I think the City is doing a better job of collecting leaves and repurposing them for composting as well as coming up with more efficient ways of deploying their street fleet. I credit the Green RVA/Dept of Sustainability for having a good influence.
I saw them tow a whole block of cars down on Marshall behind the McDonalds the other morning. I am not sure how much signage was in the area vs. people just not paying attention.
I do have to say that on Clay street, there was plenty of signs and I appreciate the great job the crew did this week.
In a word, No. If signs aren’t clear and prominent, they shouldn’t be towing.
JD, you aren’t the only one. I saw three cars being towed from the 2900 block of Broad on Tues. (?) morning. What really puzzled me this time around was the fact that the signs went up twice in consecutive weeks. I understand that the street cleaners may have gotten behind last Monday with the sudden snow, but then why leave up the signs for the rest of the week if it was only going to get put off by 7 days? I don’t know if anyone got towed last week, but theoretically the city could have towed people off my street on Wed., March 1 (when they did no cleaning), as well as Wed., March 8. It’s such a racket.
JD I’m sure you weren’t the only one, just that no one on this blog is reading this thread. I noticed today that there are now two signs on the west side of 26th Street announcing, I think, towing on FRIDAY for street cleaning. Not sure which side of the street you were towed from.
Information about towing contract here:
http://cityhallreview.com/?s=towing&search=Search
Why am I not surprised to see Trammell’s hand in the pot? Queen of shady…
What is the best way to appeal a tow?
@#6 Scott Burger: Scott, do you know where the city is composting the leaves these days? I went to the Oakwood dump last weekend hoping to find some and they didn’t have it like years past. The woman on duty told me they were ending that program. I still got mulch, but it’s the rough woody mulch that’s been run through the chipper, not nearly as good for planting.
In north CH there would be no excuse for missing the signs, they were everywhere and clear. Even if I didn’t see one on my street, seeing them everywhere else is enough to make me think I better look real close on my own block to see when I need to move. I do not think they do a good job with towing, I think they should tow or ticket all cars, but instead they just seem to pick one or two from each block, move on and leave the lucky rest. I think they should at least leave a ticket or letter of warning for every last violator, so hopefully next time they will move and they can do a better job cleaning. And I’ve been towed twice myself over the years, so I’m not saying this as someone who has never had to go pick up their car from the lot and pay the fee.
Bret, they had signage for sure but it was spotty in places. It also changed a couple times during the week in some places so if you weren’t paying close attention, you might think you were off the hook only to find that they changed it.
JD, if you want to appeal a tow, I’d suggest banging your head against a wall instead. You’ll get more results and will save time. Tow companies are always right and will refuse to listen to anyone. Cops and bureaucrats get their backs so you won’t get far.
This topic came up last year bout this time when people were towed. And yes, if I can move my car to make sure it is out of the way then everyone else can.
I know the 400 block of N 27th had a date change because of the house fire that happened the day of cleaning but we still LOOK and READ and moved our cars again to abide by them.
I am sure it is not a case of proper signage but people just don’t read them. Case in point… traveling east on Broad in front of the McDonald’s at 18th Street, there is a clear sign in front of the cleaners on the pole that says NO LEFT TURN. People still do it holding up and crossing traffic and often going in the “out” side of the drive. People have become lax in their driving habits and just do whatever and that includes reading and obeying signs.
Another topic that came up this same time was about the law where people are supposed to park no closer than 25-feet from the corner of a street intersection. It makes it harder to see around the vehicles and down the street, especially in cars, and so have to pull way out risking being hit. That law is what I rather see enforced. Leaves don’t kill anyone but blind spots do.
I can’t believe they only clean the streeets monthly. Most cities clean weekly. Signs in my neighborhood were quite visable and still people disregard them. They SHOULD tow
Monthly? I think I only saw my street swept once in 2011. But for my street at least, annually or once after any road salting is probably enough.
Yup, i parked my car on 26th on a friday night and left town for a funeral. no signs. nothing. car was towed by the time i got back and i spent the better part of an hour wandering around hoping my car wasn’t stolen.
Alex, that’s what I figured.
It would be nice if the city advertised street cleaning via mail, community blog, etc next time around. Temporary street signs work but not when a tree or sign post doesn’t exist to attach them to.
JD, that’s actually a really good idea to ask the city to post it, maybe they could put it on their home page then individuals and blogs could pick it up from there.
I live on Jefferson Avenue and our street has been cleaned maybe twice in the 2.5 years that I’ve lived there. It’s super annoying because my street (like everyone else’s) receives a ton of litter from vehicle traffic, foot traffic, Alamo BBQ, convenience store junk food wrappers, etc. I subscribe to the “broken window theory” and I strongly believe that part of the reason that Church Hill has maintained a poor reputation is because there is trash every where and the city doesn’t seem to care!
Carolyn, adding insult to my injury is the fact that I spend 30 minutes or so every week picking up trash on my block.
Carolyn – I don’t think street sweeping really does much for that issue though because new trash gets dropped every day and it gets blown away or washed into the sewer. So you can’t sweep it and expect it to stay clean for 6 months or more because the issue is constantly in motion and being resupplied. JD I do the same, that is all we can really do on that issue in my opinion.
John, spoke to City folks today who said that the company that has has the street cleaning contract takes the leaves for their own purposes. Thanks for asking me about that.