Since we all look at our phones now while walking down the street, we may miss those orange signs the Department of Streets and Sanitation ties around poles and trees, informing us that a sweeper is visiting our street.
But there’s a solution that will allow you to avoid $60 street cleaning tickets without ever looking up from your phone. The website www.sweeparound.us will send warnings by text or e-mail when the sweepers are coming to your block. I received a text yesterday that read, “Street sweeping for Ward 49, Area 6 will begin in one week, starting on April 15.”
That’s a little vague -- and not very useful, since my street has already been swept this month. So it’s a good idea to supplement sweep around with another website, www.chicagostreetcleaning.com. On that site, you can enter your address, and get a list of every day the sweepers will visit your block this year. They were here on Opening Day -- April 1 and 2 -- and will return May 15 and 16.
The city is more eager than ever to write parking tickets, so motorists need more tools than ever to avoid them.
