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Call Kurtis: Confusion Over Street Sweeping Tickets In Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A Call Kurtis investigation found the city wrote millions of dollars in street cleaning tickets when it wasn't sweeping the streets.

We first exposed the problem three years ago. The city promised it would re-evaluate its street signs, but did they? Based on the data we pulled, 44 percent of tickets were written on days when the streets were not swept.

But it turns out there might be confusion about what street cleaning really is. We learned the city's definition may be a bit different from what you might think.

We caught up with Midtown resident Andrew Shephard on street cleaning day.

"I just got a ticket. I'm annoyed. I've paid so many tickets," he said.

Shephard says this is the 10th ticket he's received on street cleaning day.

"Sucks I gotta pay $50," he said.

But looking at the debris on the street, Shephard questions if the city is even doing its job. In 2013, we exposed the city of Sacramento for writing street cleaning tickets when it wasn't sweeping the streets.

Back then, public works spokesperson Erin Treadwell said it caused them to make some changes.

"It absolutely caused us to pause and go why?" she said.

Then the city quietly took down some street cleaning signs on P Street, which was the focus of our investigation. Treadwell said the city would spend the next couple of months re-evaluating the rest of the city.

Fast forward years later, we wanted to check in on the city's progress. Did they follow through on their promise?

Recently we sat down with a group of Midtown residents consisting of Courtney Chittock, Christopher Hill, Andrew Shephard, and Nicole Velasquez. They say they each received anywhere from 3 to 10 street cleaning tickets in Midtown over the last few years. None of them think the city cleaned the streets on the days they were ticketed.

"You see this big pile of leaves and debris, it's been there for weeks and weeks and weeks. It just sits there," said Hill.

During the month of August, Hill took video footage documenting a particular nuisance on his street.

August 4: "Here's this massive pile," he says on the video.

August 12: "It's August 12th," he says.

August 18: "This pile is still here," he says.

Chittock thinks the city isn't doing enough.

"It's obvious they're not cleaning the streets," she said.

And Velasquez challenged one of her recent tickets but lost.

"It's not in my budget," she said.

With parking already tough in Midtown, and the city having to pay for the arena, she thinks this is intentional.

"It's a huge moneymaker," she said.

We wanted to know just how big of a moneymaker. We pulled two years worth of Midtown street cleaning tickets and found nearly 45,000 tickets worth $2.3 million.

We then wanted to know when the street sweeping was happening, so we requested records for 20 blocks throughout the Midtown area. The city's street sweeping data only goes back one year, but on those 20 blocks, we found a whopping 44 percent of tickets were written on days when the city didn't sweep the streets.

We met with the city of Sacramento's Integrated Waste General Manager Terrance Davis to hear what he had to say.

Kurtis Ming: "We found 44 percent of the time, tickets were being written when the streets weren't being swept. Forty-four percent. That's a considerable number."

Terrance Davis: "I have different data, so I can't speak to the 44 percent number. The data we analyzed, specifically relative to that, tells a very different picture. If you look, when we're scheduled to be there, we're there, by and large, 95-plus percent of the time."

When Davis' department scheduled the street sweeper or claw to go by, yes it is 95 percent. But at some points of the year, the street sweeper only comes by every six weeks. He then said when you add in weekly garbage and recycling pickup, which also happens during that four-hour window, that number is also higher than 95 percent.

Ming: "How can you adequately sweep the streets if there are garbage cans and yard waste containers blocking the gutter?"

Davis: "I'll say in a dense area, there are some operational challenges."

We pulled city documents from the 1980s showing the original intent of the street cleaning signs. They did not include garbage pick-up. It was to allow the city garden refuse and street sweeping crews' unhindered access to the gutter to provide more efficient street cleaning.

The city has since changed the definition to include garbage and recycling pickup.

Davis: "It's a term of art, if you will, that's been used in other agencies in cities."

Ming: "It's interesting you bring that up, because we've looked."

We pulled the definition of street cleaning for other cities.

Ming: "Springfield, Missouri: Street cleaning includes shoveling, brooming, sweeping and/or vacuuming to remove track out of sediment from paved public roads. Doesn't say garbage pickup."

In Evanston, Illinois, street cleaning is conducted from March 1 to December 15 to eliminate litter, debris, and leaves from the streets. And in Washington, DC, they have no parking signs for street cleaning, which is defined as mechanical street sweeping services in residential neighborhoods. Parking restrictions related to residential mechanical street sweeping are lifted when street cleaning services are suspended.

Ming: "So why does Sacramento have a different definition?"

Davis: "I think Sacramento is a little bit unique."

The city admits the signs can be clearer, something they also admitted to us nearly three years ago.

Ming: "In the meantime, a whole lot of tickets were written when people say services were not performed."

Davis: "The services were performed."

Ming: "Street sweeping was not performed."

Davis: "City services were performed."

Ming: "The signs don't say city services, they say street cleaning."

Davis: "The signs also say no parking between 8 and 12."

But as soon as we started asking questions again, crews started covering up the words street cleaning with stickers that read "city services."

Ming: "Why in three years has that not already happened?"

Davis: "It's been a process."

Ming; "Why not refund these tickets?"

Davis: "The tickets were written for legitimate violations for parking in zones with restrictions."

Not wanting to pay for any more street cleaning tickets, Chittock now rides her bike around town.

Chittock: "I got rid of my car," she said.

Ming: "No more car, no more tickets?"

Chittock: "Yeah, it's been a change. I had to get a ride here."

The rest are not willing to do that.

However, Velasquez has a message for the city: "I'll move my car every week If you follow through with your word," she says.

If the city refunded fines it collected on days when it was supposed to sweep but didn't, that could mean $1 million back in the pockets of Midtown residents. That's the same amount the city of Los Angeles refunded to payees after it reneged on a decision not to charge for parking on days it didn't sweep.

We reached out to City Councilman Steve Hanson, whose district covers Midtown, for comment. His office said he had no time to talk with us.

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