Remember the sidewalk sweepers?

**Meddle** · January-07-10, 10:24 AM

We're getting a light fluffy snow and it reminded me of the guys in the small jeeps with rotary brooms mounted to the front that drove along the sidewalks and swept the snow off. I don't know the whole story, but I remember they would skip certain houses so I guess they were contractors of sorts and might be skipping houses that didn't pay.

Was this just a westside thing?

**bailey** · January-07-10, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Meddle

We're getting a light fluffy snow and it reminded me of the guys in the small jeeps with rotary brooms mounted to the front that drove along the sidewalks and swept the snow off. I don't know the whole story, but I remember they would skip certain houses so I guess they were contractors of sorts and might be skipping houses that didn't pay.

Was this just a westside thing?

They still do it in the GPs.. they're not jeeps with rotary brushes anymore though... they are little multipurpose utility vehicles with plows. no idea what they're called.

**Hermod** · January-07-10, 10:40 AM

I remember the sidewalk sweepers in downtown Detroit. They had a white-painted trash barrel on wheels, a push broom and a dust pan. They kept the sidewalks clean of paper, cigarette butts, and such in the downtown area. The barrels had a DPW stencil on them.

**KENSINGTONY** · January-07-10, 10:59 AM

It wasn't just a west side thing.I remember them sweeping the snow on Kensington with the sidewalk Jeeps too.
I also remember when we used to have to separate the garbage from the trash and the guy would come in our backyard with a wheeled cart and take the individual cans out to the truck to be emptied.

**econ expat** · January-07-10, 11:08 AM

The only sidewalk sweepers I saw were the Polish housewives, sweeping off the porches and sidewalks every day.

**larrym** · January-07-10, 11:12 AM

At Lawndale and Olivet I was the snow sweeper. Get up at 5 to shovel my custormers walks before I went to school, it was COLD!!

Buy American · January-07-10, 11:13 AM

In NE Detroit we used to pay a contractor to plow the snow on sidestreets and sidewalks. Detroit never provided plowing as a service to residents. The only plowing the City did was on main streets or bus routes.

**gazhekwe** · January-07-10, 11:47 AM

I remember those jeeps, was just thinking about them yesterday. I believe it was a contract service, now that you jog my memory. I think we paid something like $30 in the 60s for the service. I'm not sure if that was for the month or for the season.

Buy American · January-07-10, 12:09 PM

If I remember correctly, our service was a flat rate for the winter season, I want to say about $25...but all the neighbors had to participate. We used to have one or two holdouts and they got their street shoveled even when they didn't pay.

**ronaldj** · January-07-10, 12:10 PM

Worked at 1001 Woodward for a few years. DPW workers used "pushmobiles" called Billy Goats to clean up sidewalk debris in the summertime.

Lived in Grosse Pointe Park for 14 years. Sidewalks were brushed off after snow storms. We would toss a little salt afterwards.

I admit to falling up my steps in summer months but never had a problem on the sidewalks during winter.

**slick** · January-07-10, 12:13 PM

remember the sidewalk sweepers in downtown Detroit.

I think their nickname was whitecoats, because thats what they wore.
Members of the Deparment of Public Works, [[DPW)

I contend that before you get any government aid etc.
they hand you a broom and a bag and you receive your check when you return with a full bag.

**jgavrile** · January-07-10, 12:37 PM

Highland Park use to clean all the sidewalks back in the 50's. It was great!

**Blueidone** · January-07-10, 01:03 PM

Growing up in Huntington Woods, they would use the same kind of sweepers to clear the sidewalks. It was a city service, nothing you had to pay for back then. This would be in the early 60's.

**Danny** · January-07-10, 01:05 PM

There still some sidewalk sweepers in Detroit. It's provided by Next Detroit.

**65memories** · January-07-10, 01:12 PM

In Rosedale Park, we still have the snow sweepers. In fact, they just went by my house sweeping the sidewalk about an hour ago. While streets in Rosedale are plowed with money from association dues, the sidewalks are contracted on a house by house basis. If the majority of a block has the service, then the entire block is usually done, although this is at the discretion of the company. Sometimes an individual house will be skipped, which is very noticable if most others are swept.

**Bluenote132003** · January-07-10, 02:04 PM

On the east side, in what is now East English Village, the jeeps were run by a company called Santoro Bros., they may still be located at Harper and I-94 near Chalmers I grew up on a corner house, used to love it when those guys came through...a lot less work for me! We used to stand near the edge of the sidewalk when they went by, got plastered by the snow they were brushing off the sidewalks!

**EMG** · January-07-10, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

They still do it in the GPs.. they're not jeeps with rotary brushes anymore though... they are little multipurpose utility vehicles with plows. no idea what they're called.

Right, when I lived in Grosse Pointe Woods they came out regularly. And here in Scottsdale our streets are swept - yes, with rotary brushes - once a week.

Don't know about now, but back when I lived in Detroit in the 70s and 80s, I seem to remember it as a rare twice a year type thing, and in advance there would be a big production made of it, with signs being posted a day or two in advance saying "no parking, street to be machine cleaned." That was never an issue in Grosse Pointe Woods since most street parking was banned anyway, and ALL street parking was banned from 3 to 5 a.m. on all streets. And here in Scottsdale there are no changes to parking laws. The sweeps just go around parked cars if necessary.

As for "sidewalk sweeping" I don't ever remember that being done. I do remember that any sort of snow plowing on streets or sidewalks in Detroit was only done if enough people in the neighborhood association agreed to pay for it privately. Some years we had it, and other years we didn't. In Grosse Pointe Woods it was covered with taxes and consistently and promptly done immediately after any significant snowfall [[both streets and sidewalks). As for here in Scottsdale...heh, heh..."Snow? What's that?"

**EastsideAl** · January-07-10, 03:37 PM

We always had the snow sweepers in Indian Village. It was a contract service and was part of the Association dues for a long time, but was later paid on a house by house assessment.

**softailrider** · January-07-10, 04:39 PM

I lived on Littlefield north of 7 Mile and remember the Jeeps with the brooms in front very well, this was in the early 60's. Not sure if there was a charge for the service, I didn't pay the bills back then.

**rb336** · January-07-10, 04:42 PM

i remember back in 1980 or so there was an old guy who pushed around a can on wheels and a push broom -- he looked exactly like the guy who used to sweep up in that cartoon

**SMRJim** · January-08-10, 07:59 PM

Remember them well in NW Detroit [[Grand River/Greenfield area). Dad never paid for the service, so we always had to shovel the sidewalk. Sometimes the guy wouldn't lift the sweeper in front of our house, always loved it when that happened!

**KENSINGTONY** · January-11-10, 09:07 AM

My memory has been jogged about the sidewalk sweeping.Yes,it was by contract.Santoro's did it in our neighborhood.

**pgn421** · January-11-10, 03:11 PM

yup, Santoros did ours on Bishop off Mack back in the 50's and 60's

**KENSINGTONY** · January-12-10, 05:06 PM

Our next door neighbor to the south had hedges on his property and if the sweeper came southbound and the brush was pointing the wrong way the snow would pile up on our driveway and sidewalk instead of going on to his lawn.So I still had shoveling to do after Santoro's did their good deed.If the Jeep was northbound there wasn't near as much shoveling to do afterward.