The point is to clean leaves and trash off the streets. If you've had your basement flood because a storm drain was clogged with leaves you'd understand.

Ron, you clearly don't get sarcasm...

I understand sacasm but don't see it here.

Street sweeping does not make money for the City - the costs are significantly higher than the ticket revenue. Street sweeping is done because it does clean a tremendous amount of trash, sand and leaves from our roads. It will not make the roads pristine, but based on the tonnage of material collected by the sweepers, it is absolutely necessary for cleanliness, road safety, and water quality.

In the last five years, the City has switched street sweeping in East Rock from twice a month to once a month because East Rock streets did not have the material to justify so frequent sweeps. We have also started paper posting two days before the sweeping, and have cut tows from over 20,000 in 2006 to 4,237 in 2012 to minimize the inconvenience for our residents. In 2013, we are adding a "reverse-911" message to notify residents, as well (you can sign up at www.cityofnewhaven.com/EmergencyInfo/index.asp).