CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM A driver pulled out of his parking space along Ala Ilima in Salt Lake on Saturday. The local neighborhood board recently passed a resolution asking the City Council to ban parking for a few hours while the streets are swept.

Brief ban on Salt Lake street parking urged

Residents might lose street parking in congested Salt Lake for several hours twice a month so street sweepers can clean the roads.

The Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board unanimously passed a resolution this month asking the city to ban parking during street sweeping, further squeezing parking.

The neighborhood board, an advisory body, asked the City Council to pass a ban on parking in the area while sweeping the street. The board chairman said the earliest a bill could be passed would be after April.

The ban would likely last about three hours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the bimonthly cleanings, a city road maintenance official said. Drivers would be notified beforehand.

"I think positively," said board Chairman Grant Tanimoto, who has seen the same process used in San Francisco. "If other cities can do it, we can do it over here. It all depends on the will of the people."

The board hopes cleaner streets will prevent storm runoff from carrying debris, trash and motor oil to the Salt Lake waterway. Although the waterway was designed to collect runoff from the subdivision, debris and chemicals have clogged it before, causing overgrown vegetation, noxious odors and a foul appearance.

The city dredged the waterway a couple of years ago. The board fears debris and oil will clog it again if streets are not properly cleaned.

"The street sweeper is forced out into the middle of the street" when cars are parked on the sides, said Lennard Pepper, the board's vice chairman. "It's basically useless."

Larry Leopardi, chief of the city Road Maintenance division, which oversees street cleanings, commended the board's resolution.

"We would be an advocate for it because it makes the sweeping of the curb more effective," he said.

Board members also hope the parking ban will remove abandoned cars, freeing up parking spaces.

Some Salt Lake drivers said they support the ban, despite the tight parking situation.

"Every night, you have to go all the way up the street a couple blocks" just to park, said Kim Kapua, a Liliha resident who visits her sister weekly at West Lake Apartments.

But Kapua said some places already require her to move her car by 6 a.m., so a daytime ban would not affect her.

"Make it a certain time -- that's good," she said.

Pat Pillorato, who parks his gray Chevy Malibu on Ala Ilima Street, lives at Century West apartments. His family owns three cars, one for him and each of his two sons, and only one parking space.

Pillorato, who parks his car on the street at night, wants cleaner streets.

"Oh yeah, of course in the daytime, we can tell people to move the cars because in the daytime you're not here anyway," he said.

Thomas Dudley, who lives at Chandelier apartments, said his family has two parking stalls for their two cars.

Dudley complained about the lack of parking in Salt Lake but added that a daytime ban for a few hours might benefit the area.

"Some of these cars don't even move," he said. "It'd be nice to see some of these cars (towed)."