Minneapolis residents and visitors, be careful where you park. No, it's not a snow emergency that will get your car towed, but rather, the annual spring street sweeping, which officially begins Tuesday.
A few streets have already been cleaned and residents who live there already know the drill. The city puts up temporary "No Parking" signs, the the cleaner comes along and sweeps up the junk and debris left behind by winter.
On Tuesday, the effort to clean 1,100 miles of streets kicks into high gear.
Signs prohibiting parking will be posted at least 24 hours in advance to give motorists a heads up, the city says. On the day the block is cleaned, parking is not allowed from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but to be safe, don't park on the street until the signs are removed.
Vehicles that are left on city streets that are scheduled to be swept are subject to a ticket and tow to the city's impound lot.
The city will augment sign posting with about 3,000 automated phone calls each night to residents potentially affected by the next day's sweeping and post a schedule online.
Residents can also check the city's website to find out when crews will be in their neighborhood. Information will be posted at www.minneapolismn.gov/publicworks/streetsweeping and click on "street sweeping schedule lookup" to find out which week a street is scheduled to be swept. They can also find out which day of the week the street is scheduled to be swept.
Videos in several languages will be posted on the city's YouTube channel and aired on cable channels 14 and 79.
The street sweeping effort will run through May 5. Minneapolis streets are swept completely curb to curb once in the spring and once in the fall. The city reminds residents that it is illegal to push leaves, grass clippings, or anything else into city streets.
Sweeping in St. Paul began Monday will run for through May 3. Here is a link to the city's interactive map showing when and where streets will be cleaned.
