Street sweeping is nice, but a little heads up would help

Over the winter, the grit, dirt and sand pile up on La Crosse’s streets. It becomes noticeable when the snow melts and it piles up along the curb with leaves and loose garbage. The city of La Crosse provides a nice service by running street sweepers to clean along the curbs, and things look less dingy after they go through. But for those operating that heavy equipment, there are often things in the way, mainly cars. The street sweeper went down my block yesterday and sure enough my car was in the way. The sweeper drivers tend to be very precise and clean around the cars in their way, but wouldn’t it be better if the cars weren’t in their way, so they could clean the entire street? We are told to move our cars in the winter to make room for the plows. Wouldn’t it make sense if we knew when the street cleaners would be coming to a certain block so drivers could make room for them?  Streets could be cleaned on a certain schedule, like your garbage pickup. Or the city could send text messages to those living where they plan to sweep. Or even post signs like they do on parade routes when no parking is allowed. Either way, we would be happy to move our cars to make room, and the streets would be cleaner as a result.