Street Cleaning Days--No Parking!

People parking on the street on cleaning days is especially a problem during the winter. Street cleaning really helps to keep the storm drains from clogging and flooding. The street cleaners can't do a good job when cars are blocking the road gutters. Please use some common sense and don't park on the street on cleaning days, especially during the storm season.

Our street cleaners often come before 8.00 am, often around 7.30. There are many cars on our street that are parked until 8.00 am and they are gone by 8.10. The rules state that there should be no cars parked after 8.00 but if the street cleaner comes at 7.30 it is too early.

Gee, Paul, life is good in Palo Alto. You could be living in Syria or sub-Saharan Africa. Or sitting in a foxhole in Afghanistan. Try not to get too bent out of shape.

If the routing were changed to do the opposing sides of a street on different days, residents might well learn to move their cars to accomodate street cleaning. Right now I find it difficult to guess when during the cleaning day they're likely to show up.

Please keep in mind that the houses in Palo Alto, for the most part, large or small, have one-car garages. Not many have two-car garages, and few of the huge McMansions have a three-car garage. Most of the families in town here, especially if they have teen children, have 3-5 cars. The large or three-generation families may have 6-8 cars. There are houses near ours that hold three families, and they have 8-9 cars.

So, the question is, if one household has so many cars and not enough garage space, where do the cars go, especially if not every car is used everyday? ON THE STREET!
If the house does not have enough storage space, and the garage is used for storage space, where do the cars go? ON THE STREET! If the family living in the house does not have enough room for all family members and converts their garage to living space because it is cheaper than buying a larger house, where do all the cars go? ON THE STREET!

There is a street in Old Palo Alto that has a large house, large lot, and a four-car garage, BUT, the owner, who lives alone, collects cars. Where do most of them go? ON THE STREET.

When everyone comes home from work in the evening, and they can' t find parking anywhere near their house, sometimes fights break out and the police are called. WHY? Because most everyone in Palo Alto has insufficient garage space and multiple cars, so some or most of the cars must park ON THE STREET!

Wouldn't the city have to post signs on all streets indicating when you are not allowed to park? And I am sure there is some minimum spacing for these signs. I, for one, would not really want a sign like that in front of my house. We have signs other than stop signs.