San Jose ' Department of Transportation staff told the committee that street-sweeping operations prioritize stormwater-permit compliance and that recent performance metrics show route completion gains, but barriers remain that disproportionately affect some neighborhoods.

Jennifer Sagan, deputy director for infrastructure maintenance, explained the program's primary purpose: "a lot of people think, oh, it's cleaning the roads, but really what it is is to it's a best practice under the stormwater permit for removing pollutants that could get into the storm drains and ultimately in the waterways." She described a hybrid delivery model: in-house crews sweep arterials, connectors and bikeways while a contractor (GreenWaste) sweeps residential streets monthly.

DOT presented a consolidated route-completion metric (Geotab tracking) and reported about 91% completion in fiscal year 23-24 and similar results in 24-25, with inspectors using a five-point effectiveness scale for observed sweep quality. DOT noted that roughly 46% of curb miles swept per year are by the in-house program and that residential sweeps depend on the contractor's performance and local conditions.

Staff described common impediments: large curbside debris piles and early/late yard-waste setouts, low-hanging branches that prevent sweepers from getting to the curb, and parked cars that force operators to miss curb lengths. DOT said inspectors follow sweeper routes and leave door hangers to alert residents where vehicles block access. On the collection side, DOT reported that in FY24-25 more than 66,000 citations were issued to 45,000 vehicles for street-sweeping violations and that about 72% of those citations occurred in Equity Atlas areas 8, 9 and 10.

To increase effectiveness, DOT proposed drafting a budget addendum to add signed curb miles; staff presented a cost estimate to add about 100 miles of signed no-parking curb with an estimated one-time cost of about $1,000,000 and an annual operating cost of about $1,000,000 to support enforcement. DOT also said it will explore technology pilots, create a public-facing condition-rating tool and evaluate providing yard-waste bins in partnership with Environmental Services to reduce obstructions.

Councilmembers asked for customer-satisfaction metrics comparing contractor and in-house performance, requested breakdowns of one-time vs repeated citations, and pressed for more equitable deployment that considers immigrant and dense neighborhoods. Vice Mayor Foley raised safety concerns about contractor vehicle speeds and staff committed to investigating speed and compliance with geolocation monitoring.

Public commenter Jordan Moldau urged targeted deployment of signs and additional data breakdowns (single vs. repeat citation counts) and asked for more attention to glass and other debris in truck and bike routes.

The committee accepted the street-sweeping status report; the motion carried 4-0 with 1 absent. DOT said it will pursue a budget proposal for signed curb miles, continue enhanced sweeps and return with additional measures and metrics.