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Sweeping Industry News Bulletin |
Kansas City, MO, Starts Street Sweeping Again
posted August 2019
In June of this year we posted a story that detailed how the street sweeping program in Kansas City, Missouri had ended up in the gutter this fiscal year because of a deficit in the fund that pays for it. Now, in August, the City is starting sweeping back up with four months of trash on the streets.
Street sweepers will hit the roads next week in Kansas City after the service was cut from the budget earlier this year. There is almost four months of trash on the sides of the city's streets. "I think it was kind of slid into the city budget, and frankly, I don't think that it was a good idea from the start," Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said. Advertisement The previous City Council voted to end street sweeping. After some complaints, city leaders realized the EPA and state law required it. "So the council stepped in said, 'What's going on here? We need to get this done and get it taken care of,'" City Councilwoman Teresa Loar said. On the phone, the city's communications director said street sweeping was cut on purpose because the city didn't have the money. "There's a lot of things we could let go before we let go of this. I mean, the city spends a lot of money," Loar said. On Thursday, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution. Leaders want up to $2 million spent on street sweeping. Street sweepers only go about 5 mph, and they have 4,000 miles to cover before Dec. 31. "If we start today, we just hope we can get it done by the end of the year so we don't violate that decree," Loar said. "What you saw today was we're correcting a mistake. We're getting people employed again, and we're making sure that the streets are clean and that our water system is clean," Lucas said. Water customers pay $2.50 each month to pay for street sweeping. The city said that fee has not changed in 14 years.
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Material for this article came originally from a story by Kansas City's