Noise Issues in Parking Area Sweeping

Which Are Louder, Sweepers or Sweeping Contractors?

Boise contractors band together to create a dramatic media event against a crippling proposed noise ordinance

by Ranger Kidwell-Ross

Sweeping contractors in Boise, Idaho, had less than a week to react to a proposed noise ordinance designed to curtail late night sweeping. Not only did the ordinance fail to contain specific language addressing how noise was to be measured, it specifically singled out sweeping as a 'banned' activity between the hours of midnight and 6 AM.

Steve Johnson, owner of Boise-based Wind Sweep, spearheaded the effort to notify contractors of the ordinance throughout the Boise sweeping community. Paul Cripps, PC Maintenance, alerted us at the American Sweeper office. The collective response was a unanimous decision to organize a focused effort to fight the Boise noise ordinance.

"Probably all the contractors were initially skeptical about what would happen when we got together," said Johnson, "but in the end, the word 'phenomenal' was the one heard most often."

It was decided that an informational 'media event' should be organized to dramatize the value of sweeping contractors. One of Johnson's clients, who owned a parking lot near the city hall, agreed to let all of Boise's sweeping companies dump their hoppers there on Sunday night. To secure good media coverage, advance press-release calls were made by both the sweeping contractors and myself, at the time editor of American Sweeper magazine. Fortunately, objective news editors were found at all three network affiliate television stations in Boise, as well as at the local newspaper, the Idaho Statesman.

After obtaining the necessary permit, plans were made for holding a sweeper parade on Monday, when the media would be in attendance and the large pile of sweeper-collected litter would be on display. Additional support, from what was then called American Sweeper magazine, included Federal Expressing a three-page letter detailing the many benefits of nighttime sweeping -- including the economic and sanitation impacts of curtailing it -- to the mayor, city council members, county health department and city attorney. These were planned to arrive in their respective offices Monday morning. The sweeper organization also submitted its statement on the issue.

All night long on Sunday, February 11th, sweepers filed into the designated parking lot and dumped their sweeping debris into the central pile. By nine o'clock on Monday morning -- the agreed upon time for having the media cover the event -- the pile measured 50' by 120' and approximately 6' deep, an impressive amount by anyone's standards!

The parade consisted of 35 to 40 vehicles including sweeper and snowplow trucks which proceeded down main street, lights flashing, and pulled up in front of city hall. All three TV stations provided substantial media exposure, including live coverage of one of Johnson's Supervacs (now Schwarze S-series) cleaning a nearby parking lot.

"You could hear the noise of airplanes and semi-trucks going by in the background," laughed Johnson, "but you couldn't really hear my 3-yard Supervac running! The result had to have been just overwhelming to the mayor, council members and legal department. Because of our initiative, we were able to get the Associated General Contractors (AGC), as well as representatives of local mall and business properties, behind the effort to stop the ordinance. One of my accounts, for example, wrote a letter stating Wind Sweep 'could not do a satisfactory job of sweeping at their industrial location during the day.' We actually received an incredible outpouring of support from the business community, once we'd alerted them. Our newly formed group, which we called the Pavement and Parking Area Maintenance Association (PPAMA), also submitted a detailed 6 page statement to the city council."

On Tuesday night, virtually the entire sweeping community of Boise attended the city council meeting where the noise ordinance was to slated be adopted. After approximately an hour and a half of public testimony, which included the AGC and Downtown Boise Association speaking against the ordinance, the Boise city council decided to defer their decision on the noise ordinance for 4 months. It hasn't resurfaced.

All told, the power-sweeping community of Boise provided a fine example of the significant difference commitment and organization can make: The city of Boise is now more informed about the services and benefits provided by the sweeping industry, the sweeping contractors discovered what they can do when united by a common cause, and a poorly drafted ordinance was halted until it could be further evaluated in light of its actual consequences. Additionally, ongoing industry education will become foremost in the efforts of the newly formed PPAMA.

This article is reprinted from American Sweeper magazine, v5n1.

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