Spring street cleaning is into its fourth week in Calgary and the complaints have piled up.
Some Calgary residents are annoyed with having to clean up their own streets because city crews couldn’t do the job properly when vehicles were left on the road.
“Yet again I was very disappointed that the city had intended to clean the streets properly and did not,” said Glenbrook resident Stephen Poupart. “Every year they say they’re going to ticket and tow people who are in the way and they don’t. It’s very frustrating because I end up having to go and sweep in front of my house. If you’re going to do a job, do it right.”
Ward 4 Councillor Sean Chu said he wants the city to crack down on drivers who disregard the no parking signs. He says he’s getting emails from people who are angry about what they see as the city being too lenient with drivers who don’t move their cars.
Any vehicle that hasn’t been removed from the street, on street cleaning days, can be ticketed and towed. The city pays for towing if the vehicle can be taken to a nearby space. But Chu said the offender should cough up the cost of the tow and the sweeping.
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“If I had my way, I would actually charge people for the city to come back and clean that patch. And people would learn,” Chu said.
If the city has to take a vehicle to the impound lot, the owner has to pick up the tab. But some homeowners who have been left with a winter’s worth of debris say it just makes sense to move all vehicles that get in the way.
“It seems to me, if you had 15 or 20 trucks……you just pick the vehicles up, move them, sweep the street and put the cars back and fine the owners. Then the fines could go towards paying for the towing and any additional time it takes to sweep those streets because of the slowdown,” Poupart said.
As of Friday April 21, the Calgary Parking Authority reports that 1,173 vehicles were tagged and 1,148 were towed.
“This is very well advertised. For a long time, weeks and weeks in advance and it happens every year. It’s Calgary. People should know,” Chu said.
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