by Nick Welsh

The City of Santa Barbara’s street-sweeping program has proven
so successful in its four years in operation — scooping up 1.9
million pounds of debris and gunk from city streets and curbs each
year — that public works administrators want to expand into the
Mesa and the upper Mesa. While generous with their praise,
councilmembers urged caution when it came to what Councilmember
Grant House termed “street sign pollution.” Some neighborhood
activists have resisted the installation of street signs announcing
which days street sweeping occurs; police issue $40 tickets for
motorists who fail to keep the streets clear on those days.
Currently, city police issue about $750,000 worth of such tickets,
mostly in high-density neighborhoods with lots of renters. After
residents of the more affluent upper Eastside squawked about the
signs, City Hall agreed to try a voluntary compliance program,
which has proven about 80 percent successful. The parking tickets
cover a little more than half of the $1.23 million street-sweeping
contract; the rest of the money comes from Measure B, a hotel bed
tax.

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