It's a big job, but starting Tuesday crews in Minneapolis will get to work on cleaning 1,000 miles of city streets.
The annual fall street sweeping means temporary "No Parking" signs will appear on blocks a minimum of 24 hours before sweepers will come through. Multiple signs with dates and times that a block will be swept will be posted. The signs, however, are small so they easily could be missed, so check nightly.
Vehicles that are not moved will be ticketed and possibly towed, said city spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie.
In Minneapolis, the city will augment sign posting with notices on its Facebook page and Twitter. It also will send about 3,000 automated phone calls each night to residents potentially affected by the next day's sweeping and post a schedule online.
Videos in English, Spanish, Hmong and Somali also have been posted on the city's YouTube channel and will be broadcast on cable channel 14.
Sweeping takes place between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Once a street is cleaned and the "No Parking" signs have been removed, motorists can resume parking again.
The city reminds residents that pushing leaves and grass clippings into the street thinking the city will take them away is illegal. Bag them up and take them to a compost site.
St. Paul won't get started until Oct. 23. The city has about 870 miles of streets and alleys to tackle. It's a job that takes about four weeks. Like in Minneapolis, residents can check an interactive map posted on the city's web site to find out when Elgin Pelican (that's the name of the sweeper) will roll down their block.
