HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — As the city of Huntsville continues to grow, one Huntsville City Council member is on a mission and aims to see cleaner streets throughout the city. The District 4 Huntsville City Council member Bill Kling explained that one of the best ways to make cleaner streets a reality in certain areas is by adding additional city street sweepers.
Kling continued that this is an important issue close to his heart and added that it would be a great improvement to the city. "The city has done a lot of great things, I think, as far as street sweeping on major arterials. These are the large roads that run throughout the city." But, Kling said he wants to take it a step further with additional street sweepers picking up trash and debris. "I would like to take that and expand it to focus largely on residential areas. That's something that I tried to get pulsed up in the budget last year, and I certainly want to try to bring it up again in the future."
Council member Kling said he would like to see two street sweepers for each of the five city council districts. "That would be a total of ten. They would be earmarked roughly for residential use only. And by having that regular coverage, that would make the street so much cleaner, it would take care of pine needles. That would take care of leaves in the fall and would help to keep our sewer drainage inlets clear."
Furthermore, at the end of the day it's all about the community. "The citizens who are the ones, they pay the taxes, they go to the PTA meetings, and they provide the jobs that help to make Huntsville what it is today. So I think it's a good thing that we could do out of a $300 million plus budget if we could do a one time capital appropriation of 2 or $3 million in street sweepers."
For Kling, it's all a team effort. "We have one mayor and we have five council members. so it's a matter of these six elected officials coming together and working things out."