What exactly is the job of the city street sweeper? Is it not to clean the gutters of our city streets? If I am correct in this assumption, I am wondering why the gutters are not clean after the sweeper has gone by, in particular, on Mantelli Drive, all the way up to the Country Estates as well as the side streets off of Mantelli. I heard the sweeper go by this morning, but as I drove away and down on Mantelli it was clear that everything was just as dirty as yesterday, and the week before that, and the month before that. This includes the storm drain grates that are full of debris. There are also huge weeds growing in the cracks on the gutters on Mantelli west of Country Drive. Whose responsibility is it to maintain the cleanliness of this road? This is a huge walking path for many residents of Gilroy and it is a complete eyesore.
Red Phone:
It’s a great day for Red Phone when Red Phone find answers for concerned citizens like you, good caller. It turns out that both of your eyesore concerns are handled by different organizations.
Red Phone contacted South Valley Recology General Manager Phil Couchee about the street sweepers. Gilroy has contracted Recology to provide the street sweeping in Gilroy since the 1990s. Couchee said, “I will refer this to our supervisor who will investigate this situation on Mantelli.”
Couchee said, “If you have a concern about the street cleaning, call our customer service at (408) 842-3358. This begins the process of investigation. The complaint is referred to our supervisor who will go out and investigate [the problem area].”
For the gutter-weed problem, Red Phone contacted Engineer Henry Servin from the Gilroy Public Works Department. After describing the portion of Mantelli that was reported, Servin said, “That’s probably only four blocks. We will send out our maintenance crew and do a clean sweep of the gutters in that area.”
Servin also said, “If anyone has a street maintenance concern [not related to street sweeping], you can call our engineering phone line and leave a detailed voice message, which we will respond to. The number is (408) 846-0451.”
Servin added, “For the weed issues on the public street, please provide the exact location and our street crews can clean out the storm drain.
Here’s hoping Gilroy’s eyesore will be soon be healed!
