The city will finally begin the annual spring cleanup operation of streets, sidewalks and back lanes on Sunday, April 28, 2013. Sweeping crews have already accomplished some preliminary cleanup activities in the downtown area, on regional streets, as well as on bridges and overpasses.
“In the weeks ahead, crews will focus on cleaning up the city. Road safety is important to everyone as traffic in some areas may be temporarily altered to facilitate the cleanup operations. Motorists and pedestrians are reminded to use extra caution when in the vicinity of cleanup crews and heavy equipment that will be working,” said Jim Berezowsky, Manager of Streets Maintenance.
During spring cleanup operations, the City places temporary “no parking” signs to restrict on-street parking on some streets that are scheduled to be cleaned. When these signs are in place on a city street, motorists are encouraged to move their vehicles to alternative parking locations during the posted times. Vehicles parked in violation of the temporary parking ban may be ticketed and towed.
The public is reminded that under the Neighbourhood Liveability By-law, it is a ticketable offense to place portable signage on centre medians, boulevards and sidewalks because it is a safety concern for the public and City employees.
The major cleanup of boulevards and parks will commence, weather permitting, on Sunday night, May 5. Cleanup will focus on boulevards on regional streets, bus routes and collector streets.
The $4.5 million cleanup is expected to take four to five weeks to complete and will involve approximately 300 pieces of equipment and more than 500 people.
