Dormont to Change Street Sweeping Signs

amy March 20, 2012 at 01:00 pm

Wow! I was very upset that these signs went up with no explanation. I am happy that less than two weeks before it is to start we FINALLY get some kind of explanation!

AiXeLsyD13 March 20, 2012 at 01:48 pm

So, where does one with on-street parking go to park when they live on a one-way street where the adjacent streets are already over-crowded... from 6PM Thursday night to 6PM Friday night?
A smaller window during working hours would be nice.

Drums45 March 20, 2012 at 02:18 pm

they tie up parking for 24 hours?? wow how stupid!

Shannon March 20, 2012 at 02:39 pm

Are you kidding me?! 6PM to 6PM?! WTF? Oh, Dormont, you're so ridiculous sometimes. I'd like to know what street sweeper is going to be running after 5PM on a Friday. I'd also like to know what sweeper is going to be running between the hours of 6PM Thursday and 7AM on Friday.
Dear Dormont, is this just another attempt to make more money ticketing? Why would you inconvenience your residents this way? I could completely understand between 8AM and 1PM on a day... or even 7AM to 5PM... but, this is just silly. For someone who doesn't drive during the week this is just another inconvenience. Thanks.

Jenny March 20, 2012 at 02:58 pm

I agree with Shannon! Dormont is ridiculous anymore and the street sweeping signs are just another reason why

Marie K March 20, 2012 at 03:49 pm

We need to park on street overnight should have cars off street by 7 am or be ticketed ludicrist if streets are not cleanef overnight

Lisa March 20, 2012 at 06:04 pm

I never noticed the sign change until a neighbor told me they were changed. I being a resident for 10 yrs totally understood that the sign ment once a month from April to Nov. I also was excited that it said to "park other side" my street is one way and I see no problem with that, being allowed to park on the opposite side once a month for street sweeping was like a reward, because moving the car to another street, with in the same zone so you didn't get a ticket, was tricky. I can see now that it was mentioned how someone not familar with the previous "rules" and schedule would be confused by the signs....
Don't get me started on street parking and the enforced times though!!!

AiXeLsyD13 March 20, 2012 at 06:12 pm

Coming soon: http://thereifixedit.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/white-trash-repairs-street-sweeper-in-hubei-china.jpg

Ed M March 20, 2012 at 06:36 pm

Ummmm it has always been a full day.

Lauren Sabo March 20, 2012 at 10:43 pm

I hope that this "confusion" with the street sweeping is fully cleared up by April 1st. Having gotten several of those $25 tickets, I feel that the street sweeping is a way to make Dormont quite a nice buck by collecting those fines. It used to be park on the opposite side during street sweeping; then it changed to being off the entire street from 7am to 2 or 3pm. The challenge was finding parking in another zone that was close by to walk back home. Now you have to move the cars the night before?? From 6pm to 6pm?? We better be able to eat off those streets they should be so clean!! Seriously, it is only going to be once a month? Not every week? Totally ridiculous!! And how are they going to notify residents of Dormont of these changes? Not everyone reads the Patch, the Boro newletter is not always timely and the website is not up to date either! Guess that they can post flyers on our cars... But the timeline to move the cars is REALLY STUPID!!

AiXeLsyD13 March 20, 2012 at 11:04 pm

I've lived in Dormont on a one-way street since 2004 . Parking has NEVER been moved to the other side of the street for street-sweeping day.
I have received a ticket (once) on street-sweeping day when I was sick, bed-ridden, and unable to remove my car. I paid it, because I was in the wrong (albeit out of my control). I'm sure the posted times have never been a full day. 7:00am to 7:00pm seemed to be the previous time, no? Or 8 to 8 or 6 to 6.

dormonter March 21, 2012 at 12:25 am

I think my sign says 9-4 not all day. Gets a little crazy when visitors like home health or repair people need to work and for my house the closest is two blocks away. Oh boy. If only the closest side street to me was not off limits the same day. A little change in the order of the streets to be cleaned would help. As would a fuctioning street sweeper. No more contracting it out to Green Tree!

Shannon March 21, 2012 at 12:41 am

What I used to do was drive in to work at 7AM and when I drove back over lunch I could park without fear of a ticket... It does not appear that will work any longer. Also, the idea that we can simply park on the opposite side of our one-way street on sweeping days is silly. The street is more often than not completely occupied. Further, people have been ticketed of late for parking in the Port Authority lot. (Guess where I live!...) I hope Dormont figures out a way to make the convenience of it's citizens a better priority.

Ed M March 21, 2012 at 11:23 am

I've lived in Dormont since 1980 and it use to be move to the other side on street sweeping days. They would do the non-parking side the day before then the parking side the next day. Now it appears they will be doing both sides in the same day.

Ed M March 21, 2012 at 11:24 am

Well, if ya ain't taking PAT, ya ain't allowed to park there! Read the signs!

Shannon March 21, 2012 at 01:24 pm

Actually, I take the T in every day. So, your comment is a bit misguided.

Ed M March 21, 2012 at 02:12 pm

My comment was on " Further, people have been ticketed of late for parking in the Port Authority lot." The locals think those lots are their own private parking lots. For awhile, there was a Roto Rooter truck parked in the Potomac Lot. Seriously doubt if the Roto Rooter man was taking the T.

Daniele Ventresca March 21, 2012 at 06:06 pm

To clarify, I attend the council meetings and the reason for the 24 hour time period is that they do not want cars parked on both sides of the street because that will cause traffic problems. If they kept the shorter time periods, then you would need to move your car back in the middle of the afternoon which is not feasible for most people who work during the day. The nice thing is that you are not going to need to move your car completely off the street and park 2 or 3 streets away.

AiXeLsyD13 March 21, 2012 at 06:27 pm

I envision complete and total chaos where cars drive up from Banksville Road/Dwight Ave. by the park where Dormont Ave. goes from 2-way to 1-way.
Say I get home from work at 5:00 or 5:30... Sometimes by 6:00pm I'm "in" for the night. At 6:00pm all of my neighbors and I are to go out and move all of our cars at once to the other side of the street? That doesn't sound like an absolute logistical nightmare? What happens when that 1 person doesn't or can't move their car? We're not a wide street like Alabama where people (regularly) illegally park on both sides of the street because there's room. There's barely enough room for the one traffic lane as it is. Both lanes would be blocked & it would be impossible to park around/near that vehicle, or to dive in a straight line up the road. This sounds like poor planning all around.

Erin Faulk (Editor) March 21, 2012 at 08:18 pm

I was just at the borough building and got more information on this issue. Basically, street sweeping will only occur the first week of the month—not every week. Also, there are a handful of streets where parking will not be allowed at all during street sweeping, but that is only for a two-hour time frame (not for the whole day). On other streets, cars would just need to be moved to the other side. I'll have a full article up tomorrow with a schedule for the streets. Thanks for reading and sharing thoughts, everyone!

AiXeLsyD13 March 21, 2012 at 08:28 pm

Thanks for the quick clarification!

Erin Faulk (Editor) March 21, 2012 at 08:46 pm

Sure! Admittedly, it's confusing. The borough has ordered stickers for the signs to make the dates for street sweeping more clear, so hopefully that will help a bit. The signs should be correct by April 1, when street sweeping begins.

Ed M March 22, 2012 at 11:21 am

Thanks for the article and schedule, Erin. If we had to rely on the borough, we would never get this info. The borough web site still has the 2011 schedule along with a lot of pertinent 2010 schedules.

Mike March 22, 2012 at 12:17 pm

Erin - If it's only for a two hour time frame then why are they telling us that parking is prohibited for 24 hours? Parking is only legal on one side of my street.
Another complete mess by the continuous trail of folks at the borough building. I've listened to everyone on this site take sides on various issues and argue politics. I've come to the conclusion that everyone in our local government are idiots.

LatoniaLVR March 27, 2012 at 03:50 am

Frankly this is overkill by local government. Past practice was no parking between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. of the same day ... when most people were at work and most streets were vacant. Now we have a 24 hour window (as though street sweeping will occur between 6 P.M. and 8 A.M.) that serves as a back door tax on unfortunate residents who don't have the option of parking in off street spaces and get ticketed. Who thought this wonderful plan up? So if you have Monday street cleaning and want to have your family over for Sunday night dinner, make sure you have dessert before 6 p.m. so everyone can get out and move before the ticketing occurs. Please let me know if anyone else wants to start a recall petition. This is another government action that brings in to question the competence of elected and appointed officials. Most neighborhoods in this borough could use a twice annual street sweep in Spring and Fall. This is just ridiculous. What happens if you park on the other side of the street but cannot move your car due to work commitments keeping you late? Will the police give a grace period? This all seemed to work fine before with a narrow time frame and was not overly intrusive. Under the old system, on our street, by 11 a.m. the sweeper had performed their duty and all was well.

Ed M March 27, 2012 at 11:31 am

I would agree the overnight restriction is pointless. I think the reasoning is to make sure that side of the street is empty in the AM. 8AM to 6PM makes more sense. And those who don't move their vehicles should be towed and ticketed.

LatoniaLVR March 27, 2012 at 10:43 pm

It's a back door tax masquerading as a benefit. 9 to 3 so working people can leave in the morning and come home and not have to play musical cars. The borough should concern themselves more with ticketing people who ignore the stop signs throughout this garden spot of Western PA.

Daniele Ventresca March 27, 2012 at 11:09 pm

Just an FYI, the changes to street cleaning have nothing to do with generating increased revenue from increased ticketing. This idea has been brought up by multiple residents at multiple council meetings over the last two years. This is the way street cleaning used to be done many years ago and nobody could come up with the reason it was changed. I, for one, am thrilled that I will not have to move my cars two or three streets over. Yeah, it is for a longer time period but there are people who work during the day and take public transit so moving their cars back at 2 pm is impossible. The reason for the 24 hour period is so that there will not be cars parked on both sides of the street at any time. In order to accomodate everyone, they had to make a longer time period. If you are so bothered by this, go to the council meetings and get involved. I do not think one person brought up any objections to this change and ,if I recall correctly, every council member voted in favor of this plan.

Leigh March 28, 2012 at 02:06 am

If I remember correctly it was brought up at a few Council meetings why the street cleaning method was changed. It was because the buses were having problems making turns on the Kelton side of the borough because of how close the cars were to the corners.

LatoniaLVR March 28, 2012 at 03:09 am

Glad that you are thrilled. If Dormonts finest flag our car for being parked on "the wrong side" on a Sunday night you can offer to cover the cost. It's overkill ... 24 hours for a one hour job. I've been to counsel meetings over other matters and found them irresponsive unless the issue was a hot button item like the skate park. People taking public transit ... hmmm ... I guess they could park at the Castle Shannon or Dormont T stations early enough and move their cars back whenever they so choose. Maybe other streets have a problem with accumulated trash in their neighborhood streets which require monthly cleaning but ours would be fine with a twice year cleaning. Taking whole blocks of parking away during overnight hours only creates more problems versus the majority of people who can 8 to 4 or 5 it and not be infringed upon. BTW ... going to council meetings and being involved. That is why we vote for elected representation. If we have to micro-manage council then get rid of them and have public referendums on every issue. That would make for a truly democratic form of government and would take less time than sitting through council sessions.