The street-sweeping non-scandalWarren Hickle over at the argonaut is all in a tizzy about the prospect that mayor's budget reduces the regularity of mechanized street sweeping on the west side of town. But I have to agree with the commenters at sfist -- most neighborhoods would be thrilled to have those damn street sweeping machines gone.
Street sweeping is a tax on people who own cars but don't have enough money to have garages. That's mostly tenants. I'm all for getting rid of cars, and I'm all for taxing them, but the tax ought to be fair: Charge everyone who owns a car in SF a set fee a year, or even better, charge a fee based on the value of the car, so the rich pay more. Or levy a tax based on the weight of the vehicle (hits SUVs) or the gas mileage (ditto).
The sweeping is mostly a regressive way to bring in revenue for the city. I live in a part of town where we don't have any street cleaning program, and our streets are just fine.
Besides, it's kind of environmentally dumb: If you use your car once a week or less, isn't it better to leave it parked instead of starting it up every couple of days and driving it around to avoid the street sweepers?
I can see sweeping on Mission, 16th Street, Haight Street and other major commercial strips, but why would anybody on the west side be mad about losing a service that costs a lot, does little good and amounts to a bad tax?
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
Comments (2)
I agree, I have lived in places that did street sweeping once a year, and the streets were clean anyway, it is an evil tax
Posted by adam | July 16, 2008 10:25 AM
I'm afraid you have it backwards Tim.
Owning and operating a car is a choice and a responsibility, not a right or a requirement. The public subsidizes car owners by providing free or nearly-free curbside parking spaces city-wide. Even in the Finance District, paid street parking is below market rates when compared to garages. What's the logic in that? To use your analogy it is actually cars that are a tax on the average San Franciscan, even though there are plenty of us who don't own or use cars but who are helping to subsidize those who do so they can live a wasteful and polluting lifestyle.
If you don't want to move your car for weekly street cleaning, then think about selling it. No one wants car parking spaces in and of themselves. If more folks would see this and get rid of their cars we could reduce street congestion and begin to remove curbside parking in order to free up that real estate for smarter, more beneficial uses such as pedestrian or bike space, green space (that doesn't require expensive weekly cleaning), even pods for City Carshare for folks who need to use a car every now and then.
That sounds a lot better to me than dirty streets clogged with cars - many of which are largely abandoned by their owners, and many of which are blocking the sidewalks as it is. It's hard for me to understand how anyone can disagree with this.
Posted by Matt Spencer | July 22, 2008 03:17 PM