Street Sweeping Begins Monday

From following was submitted by the Department of Public Works:

Mayor Kimberley Driscoll is pleased to announce that the City of Salem’s Street Sweeping Program will begin on Monday, April 11 within our residential neighborhoods.

Regarding this year's program, Mayor Driscoll stated, "It has been a very long, snowy winter and seeing sweepers on our streets is a sure sign that spring is here. This year we havemade a commitment to clean our neighborhoods of all the winter sand and debris first."

Beginning Monday, April 11 and running through April 22, residential street sweeping will take place. As we did last year, sweepers will be sweeping both sides of the street on the same day. Each neighborhood route will be posted with temporary No Parking Tow Zones signs and parking will be prohibited between the hours of 8 a.m to 5 p.m.

City streets will be broken down into two zones.

Streets in Zone One will be swept during the week of April 11 to 15 and streets listed in Zone Two will be swept during theweek of April 18 to 22.

Residents will be ableto use entrance corridor streets (Boston St., Bridge St., Essex St. [from Boston St. to Washington St.], Lafayette St., Loring Ave., and North St.) as alternative parking areas on the day of their neighborhood sweep and once your street is swept, you will be able to move your vehicle back onto your street.

Another neighborhood sweep is scheduled for June 6 – 17. Sweep days are the next day after your regularly scheduled trash day.

To find your street sweeping dates, just locate what zone your street is in on the 2011 Residential street sweeping schedule, and match it with the calendar.

Monday sweep schedules are for the preceding Friday's trash day. For example, if you live on Atlantic Street, which has a Friday trash pickup, and you are located in Zone One, both sides of your street will be swept on Monday, April 11.

For a detailed schedule, log onto www.salem.com under the Public Works Department page forthe 2011 sweeping schedule.

Department of Public Services Director Richard Rennard stated, "The days prior to your scheduled sweep is a perfect time for residents to sweep the sand and debris from their sidewalks into the curb line on the street, just please do not make mounds or piles, as they are more difficult for the sweeper to pick up."

This year we will be sweeping our Entrance Corridors three times throughout the spring and summer (see calendar on salem.com for more details). The first scheduled sweep will begin on Monday, April 25 and continue through May 6.

Residents should consult the 'No Parking/Tow Zone' signs posted along each of these entrance corridors that notify drivers of what day parking restrictions are in effect. As in the past, sweeping schedules alternate between the odd and even sides of the street so residents are able to alternate parking their cars on the opposite side of the street during scheduled sweeping days. Parking will prohibited from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. on these scheduled sweep days. The two additional Entrance Corridor sweeps will take place June 20-July 1 and August 15– 26. Temporary No Parking/Tow Zone signs will beposted for these sweeps.

Richard Rennard, Director of Public Services, stated, "Resident cooperation is vital to the success of this program. You must remove your cars from the street on your designated sweeping day. I encourage everyone to get the word out to their neighbors to remind them when the street sweeper is coming, so they remember to move their cars. The fewer cars on the street, the better we can clean." Mr. Rennard continued, "Our goal is to clean the streets not to tow cars, so please park accordingly during scheduled street sweeping days."

To help get the word out, the City will use its CodeRed automated calling system to send out messages, the street sweeping calendar will be posted on the News & Announcements homepage and Public Works page on the City's website (www.salem.com), hard copies will be available at the DPW garage, Salem City Hall and the Salem Public Library.

If you would likea calendar mailed to you, call the Public Services Department at 978-744-3302. Illuminated message boards will be placed throughout the city announcing street sweeping and temporary orange tow zone signs will be placed throughout the designated sweeping areas.

Certain weather conditions prohibit the use of the street sweepers: during moderate to heavy rainfall and extreme cold temperatures, sweepers will not be able to operate. Weather cancellations will be posted on www.salem.com.
One of the many ways we will be notifying residents regarding street sweeping is through our new CodeRED automated calling system, so this is a perfect time to register. Residents and businesses can add their telephone numbers, cellular phone numbers and email addresses tothe new CodeRED system. To register, residents and businesses can log onto the city's website
www.salem.com and click on the 'CodeRED Community Notification Enrollment' icon.