Street Cleaners
I was
driving home from playing golf today and two blocks away there was a dust storm
such that I could not see my upcoming turn.
It was a clear day with almost no wind.
WTF?
As I got
closer to the storm I could see it was caused by one of those stupid sweepy
street cleaner machines.
What is it
with those machines? Why do we need
them? They only brush dirt and dust to
the curb where the physics of fast moving cars will just suck the dirt and dust
back to the middle of the street.
Know what
will clean the street faster and better than a street cleaner? Rain! One good thunder storm and street is
clean. Dirt and dust is down the drain.
Why is my
good tax money going to waste having my street periodically buffed? That big old machine must cost a pretty
penny, and the driver could probably be doing something more constructive than
moving dirt and dust around.
Street
cleaners used to be pretty important I am told.
Back in the day it was not so automated.
A dude with a broom and a large dustpan would clean the streets.
What was he
cleaning? Not dirt and dust, hell most
of the streets were made of dirt and dust.
He was
cleaning up horse shit.
That is how
people got around when we needed street cleaners. By horse…horses that shit…a lot. Street cleaners were pretty important.
I don’t know
if my town administrators are aware of the fact that most people today get
around by car, bike or foot. Almost no
one, make that absolutely no one in my town rides a horse.
Never mind
the street, clean out my stupid local politicians.
They always swing by our place right after I dust everything. Bless their hearts.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day and weekend, Joe. ☺
Before I moved to my condo, I lived in the country where horses were often ridden down the road (paved) in front of my house or on the trail on the hills behind it. Rain will wash that away too.
ReplyDeleteOur city has them too and I often wonder the same things as you do. Aren't they just moving the dirt around?
ReplyDeleteMost of them have vacuums but evidently they don't work too well. In tiny town Arkansas, they sweep the streets at night after the weekend tourists leave.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in my $17,000 house in town, we'd see the street sweeper go by. I guess our area is too humid for dust, because it basically just whirled the loose pebble gravel off to the side. I figure from an employment standpoint, it's much better to drive a street sweeper that's useless, than to walk around scooping up horse shit.
ReplyDeleteBut still, good to know that if thee was any horse 'stuff' on the street...once or twice a summer it might get picked up.
ReplyDeleteAnd my neighbors complain because our streets aren’t cleaned often enough.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about the history of street sweepers, but I do like that last line! ;)
ReplyDeleteStreet cleaners here have vacuum attachments and get around sucking up dust, leaves, twigs, and any other rubbish that's there. It all goes to some big composting place somewhere, to be broken down and eventually returned as compost for the city's gardens.
ReplyDeleteOnce or twice a year we have a street sweeper that comes through my neighborhood, but like you I don't really see the point of it. My guess is they have the machines, and so they will be used.
ReplyDeleteIt's the way of the politician: See that dirt over there? I wanna see some of it over here and the rest shared with the populace .....
ReplyDeleteI live in Amish country..we need a street cleaner but don't have any. You are so right about horses. Walmart has a special parking space for them around here. I'm sure there's a person in a Walmart vest assigned to clean it up. What we need on our road is someone to clean up the beer bottles and cans from the idiot pigs that throw them out the window onto our property. Wait, that person is me when I mow.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a street cleaner for years. Don't even know if they are still around. No horses either, certainly not in my area. Most horse owners have wagons to carry the animals and they (the animals) are let out in fields and woodland.
ReplyDeleteI like your last sentence!
ReplyDeleteWe have street cleaners regularly but they just do the gutters to keep them clear and open so if we should get any rain or water runoff there won’t be anything to wash into the sewer drains at the end of the street plugging them up. Plus, our inland runoff ultimately drains into the Pacific Ocean and we want to keep it as pollution-free as possible from the trash thoughtless people litter, especially plastics. If we do get rain it’s often downpours and our soil here in the Southwest is such that absorption is slow, so can be significant amount of water with rapid forceful flow.
ReplyDelete