Bid adieu to your friendly neighborhood sweeper/undercover spy—it’s winter now, according to the Department of Public Works (DPW). Linda Grant, a DPW spokesperson, confirms that street sweeping ends today, and won’t resume again until the spring. She says, “It’s a little colder this year, and the machine’s spray can ice over the streets and cause accidents….There are also lots of leaves on the ground, so we want to focus on leaf collection.” So stop looking over your shoulder for Sweepercams! Park where you want to park! And, seriously, go frolic in some pretty orange leaves before DPW carts them away!

Photo by Wayan Vota, Creative Commons Attribution License

Finding parking in Kent Boese's stomping grounds in the Park View/Petworth region often involves some trolling. Boese, however, had a lucky streak on a certain stretch of Park Place NW---his go-to spot. "The space is in front of my neighbors, and we get along well," says Boese, adding that he liked to park there because it helped protect the neighbor's curbside garden.

But last fall, something went wrong at his fallback parking space. A letter from the city informing him his car had been photographed there by D.C.'s newest surveillance snitch, Sweepercam, a ticketing camera hoisted to the city's street sweepers. Boese's 2002 Dodge Dakota had been parked in the way during a street cleaning. To Boese's relief, the letter was just a warning, a dry run of sorts for Sweepercam.

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