By Kathy Chouteau
Richmond residents are seeing new street sweeping signs going up around town. The city reports that it is nearly halfway through a project to install new signs citywide, including neighborhoods that haven’t had them.
The city is installing 1,330 street sweeping signs in these neighborhoods: Bristlecone, Canyon Oaks, Carriage Hills South, Country Club, Greenridge, Hasford Heights, Hilltop Bayview, Hilltop Green, Lenora, Marina Bay, Metro Richmore, Panhandle Annex, Point Richmond (already installed), Quail Hill, Richmond Annex and Via Verdi, according to Richmond City Councilmember Sue Wilson in her newsletter.
To date, 530 signs have already been installed, according to city officials.
In February 2024, Richmond City Council approved $550,000 in General Fund dollars to install street sweeping signs citywide.
Amid the COVID pandemic—when residents largely remained at home and didn’t move their vehicles—the Richmond City Council directed staff to temporarily cease enforcing street sweeping parking restrictions. Although street sweeping continued, parking wasn’t enforced.
At the time, parked vehicles prevented street sweeping trucks from effectively removing debris from gutters. The city is mandated by the state to prevent debris from ending up in storm drains and waterways.
The ongoing installation was addressed in City Councilmember Sue Wilson’s newsletter. She said residents have contacted her to say they think the signs are ugly, that they should not have been erected, that there were better alternatives—and that certain neighborhoods were being singled out. She thinks the dissatisfaction is being fueled by misconception.
Wilson wrote, “This effort was not driven by the need to secure additional revenue, but rather to treat all Richmond residents and neighborhoods the same when it comes to the enforcement of municipal code. Equal treatment is important for avoiding discrimination lawsuits against the city, and it’s also the right thing to do.”
She also expressed support for the environmental benefits of street sweeping. Wilson relayed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said a regular schedule of street sweeping by regenerative sweepers—which Richmond uses—is an essential part of keeping local waterways clean. “I am convinced that it’s important that we do a good job at this,” she said.
Check out this map or list for the street sweeping schedule.
