A modest proposal: Use humans for street sweeping

[Anonymous]

There's a robust thread on the other popular DC-area blog/forum about people being ticketed for not moving their cars for street sweeping when street sweeping isn't actually happening. Given that only a small percentage of blocks in DC are eligible for street sweeping, and that trash people toss their trash everyone all over the place, why are we still using these large, dirty machines to occasionally blow dirt around on certain roads?

Why not have humans do this job by hand? BIDs and HOAs already do this, so those neighborhoods tend to always have clean streets. But why can't the rest of the city go old school and hire an army of people to walk around and pick up trash with pokey sticks? It would solve a number of problems, including beautifying our streets and providing low-skill jobs for people who can't really do anything else.

I used to live in an ex-Soviet country. Say what you will about authoritarian regimes, it's really nice to see workers up at dawn hand-sweeping the city streets. And not to have all the petty nuisance crimes that "free" countries have that directly diminish quality of life.

[Anonymous]

How about having people on parole or people do this instead of paying fines?

[Anonymous]

When I was a child in Paris, there were all these paid street sweepers, who swept debris in the water-filled caniveau. Now there are all these motorized little machines that sweep.

And Paris streets are still as disgusting as ever

[Anonymous]

Or homeless as an entry job (those capable)

[Anonymous]

DC liberals would never go for it. They’d consider it too demeaning.

[Anonymous]

In Spain, the streets sparkle like Disneyland. street sweeper is a solid government job. The ladies and gentlemen in orange come out every night to hose down the roads and drive the little trucks with brushes. Green suits hand sweep the trash all day.

The alleys of Georgetown are a literal rat filled trash heap by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Spain, the streets sparkle like Disneyland. street sweeper is a solid government job. The ladies and gentlemen in orange come out every night to hose down the roads and drive the little trucks with brushes. Green suits hand sweep the trash all day.

The alleys of Georgetown are a literal rat filled trash heap by comparison.

Sanitation workers can make six figures in certain cities. Keeping the streets clean (and pest- and disease-free) is as important a job as compiling TPS reports. Let's expand the roles to include manual litter pickup, alley patrol, and hosing down sidewalks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Spain, the streets sparkle like Disneyland. street sweeper is a solid government job. The ladies and gentlemen in orange come out every night to hose down the roads and drive the little trucks with brushes. Green suits hand sweep the trash all day.

The alleys of Georgetown are a literal rat filled trash heap by comparison.

Sanitation workers can make six figures in certain cities. Keeping the streets clean (and pest- and disease-free) is as important a job as compiling TPS reports. Let's expand the roles to include manual litter pickup, alley patrol, and hosing down sidewalks.

I agree but it will never happen in DC. The proper comparison isn’t to those of us producing TPS reports. It’s to the DC residents who have few other good employment options. I think most of those people would probably rather just keep doing what they’re doing than make a few bucks an hour sweeping streets. And if they decide they’re willing to go legit, they could get paid way more to “interrupt violence.” You don’t have to wake up early in the morning to do that.

[Anonymous]

Can the human poop on DC streets be addressed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about having people on parole or people do this instead of paying fines?

So you think it’s acceptable to humiliate people caught up in the criminal justice system by forcing them to do manual labor picking up your trash that you toss on the ground?

Quick - tell me again how you trumpers aren’t in favor of slavery

[Anonymous]

OP, you're using "a modest proposal" wrong - unless your proposal for using humans to sweep the streets is not sincere?

For reference, Jonathan Swift's modest proposal, for solving child poverty in Ireland by having people in England eat Irish babies, was not sincere.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Spain, the streets sparkle like Disneyland. street sweeper is a solid government job. The ladies and gentlemen in orange come out every night to hose down the roads and drive the little trucks with brushes. Green suits hand sweep the trash all day.

The alleys of Georgetown are a literal rat filled trash heap by comparison.

Sanitation workers can make six figures in certain cities. Keeping the streets clean (and pest- and disease-free) is as important a job as compiling TPS reports. Let's expand the roles to include manual litter pickup, alley patrol, and hosing down sidewalks.

I agree but it will never happen in DC. The proper comparison isn’t to those of us producing TPS reports. It’s to the DC residents who have few other good employment options. I think most of those people would probably rather just keep doing what they’re doing than make a few bucks an hour sweeping streets. And if they decide they’re willing to go legit, they could get paid way more to “interrupt violence.” You don’t have to wake up early in the morning to do that.

People would do it if they get paid enough to do it. Which would be more than "a few bucks an hour." That's just basic economics. Basic politics is that there's no political will in the US to pay people enough for them to be willing to do - well, lots of stuff, really. And then employers complain that nobody is willing to work (at the wages they're offering).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a robust thread on the other popular DC-area blog/forum about people being ticketed for not moving their cars for street sweeping when street sweeping isn't actually happening. Given that only a small percentage of blocks in DC are eligible for street sweeping, and that trash people toss their trash everyone all over the place, why are we still using these large, dirty machines to occasionally blow dirt around on certain roads?

Why not have humans do this job by hand? BIDs and HOAs already do this, so those neighborhoods tend to always have clean streets. But why can't the rest of the city go old school and hire an army of people to walk around and pick up trash with pokey sticks? It would solve a number of problems, including beautifying our streets and providing low-skill jobs for people who can't really do anything else.

I used to live in an ex-Soviet country. Say what you will about authoritarian regimes, it's really nice to see workers up at dawn hand-sweeping the city streets. And not to have all the petty nuisance crimes that "free" countries have that directly diminish quality of life.

I would rather have dirty streets and political, economic, and social freedoms than the other way around, but hey, that's just me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Spain, the streets sparkle like Disneyland. street sweeper is a solid government job. The ladies and gentlemen in orange come out every night to hose down the roads and drive the little trucks with brushes. Green suits hand sweep the trash all day.

The alleys of Georgetown are a literal rat filled trash heap by comparison.

Sanitation workers can make six figures in certain cities. Keeping the streets clean (and pest- and disease-free) is as important a job as compiling TPS reports. Let's expand the roles to include manual litter pickup, alley patrol, and hosing down sidewalks.

I agree but it will never happen in DC. The proper comparison isn’t to those of us producing TPS reports. It’s to the DC residents who have few other good employment options. I think most of those people would probably rather just keep doing what they’re doing than make a few bucks an hour sweeping streets. And if they decide they’re willing to go legit, they could get paid way more to “interrupt violence.” You don’t have to wake up early in the morning to do that.

People would do it if they get paid enough to do it. Which would be more than "a few bucks an hour." That's just basic economics. Basic politics is that there's no political will in the US to pay people enough for them to be willing to do - well, lots of stuff, really. And then employers complain that nobody is willing to work (at the wages they're offering).

Aren't people on welfare/section 8 housing/homeless shelters getting paid? I think able bodied should be in work, training program, education or treatment. That was the idea behind welfare to work. And yes, pay and provide a pathway to even better pay. And I'm all for quality, universal day care. BUT, you WORK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Aren't people on welfare/section 8 housing/homeless shelters getting paid? I think able bodied should be in work, training program, education or treatment. That was the idea behind welfare to work. And yes, pay and provide a pathway to even better pay. And I'm all for quality, universal day care. BUT, you WORK.

There hasn't been "welfare" since 1996. People who receive housing vouchers will lose them if their earnings go too high. What do you think people in homeless shelters get paid for?

There are search-for-work requirements for unemployment insurance.