New York City drivers will once again be required to move their cars for street sweeping twice a week, ending a nearly two-year rollback in cleaning that city officials say has left blocks awash in litter.
New York City drivers will once again be required to move their cars for street sweeping twice a week, ending a nearly two-year rollback in cleaning that city officials say has left blocks awash in litter.
The announcement from Mayor Adams is a reversal of changes ordered by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That policy — put in place March 17, 2020 — required drivers on most residential streets to move their cars just one day a week instead of twice.
“It went on for far too long and it largely sidelined the best clean streets tool in our arsenal: the mechanical broom,” city Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference on her first day as head of the department. “The dirty little secret here is that when ASP went to one day a week instead of two in practice it was like having no cleaning on many blocks in the city.”
The policy, which allowed drivers to move their vehicles once a week instead of twice, was a “pandemic measure to let people stay inside” that “went on for far too long,” Tisch said.
Some streets in the city had alternate-side parking three or more days a week before the pandemic. Officials said those would be restored — and promised $65 tickets to drivers who break the rules.
In a statement released shortly after Tisch’s announcement, Mayor Eric Adams said the investment would allow the city to “come back stronger than ever.”
“We’re no longer just going to talk about cleaning up our streets or taking steps to fight climate change, but we’re going to actually put real money behind these initiatives and lead by example here in New York City,” Adams said.
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