Detroit brings back street sweepers after 7 year hiatus

It's been seven years since the city of Detroit decided to end the sweeping of city streets but now, they're coming back to help keep them clean.

The goal is to make the streets of Detroit a lot cleaner, literally. The City's Department of Public Works is relaunching its residential street sweeping program. The program was ended in 2010 due to budget cuts.

Eric Johnson, a city worker, says the new fleet of sweepers are much more reliable than the ones the city used to use.

"The machine has water coming out, cuts down on the dust. Dust free on the inside. A lot of the old machines and things that comes up, we don't have that problem out of these new ones," Johnson said. 

He also said that residents will see their money at work when storms push through Detroit.

"Because of all of the debris with trees and flowers, when we have the storms and all the things that come down, it's a little struggle for the older seniors who can't get out and do, so any help we can get from the City, and it tells me my tax dollars are at work."

The sweepers are on schedule to go out three times a year to keep them clean, according to Director of Detroit Public Works Ron Brundidge.

"We're going to go through the entire city three different times. We anticipate it will take nine to ten weeks for completion of each cycle."

Councilman Scott Benson said that it's about time that the city starts to clean up.

"We need beautification. We need to tear down these homes. We need to do something about the liter on the ground and clean these streets."

This is progress in putting more focus on the neighborhoods. For residents like Jaime Bradley, that's a breath of fresh air.

"Went to a few City Council meetings and they said they was going to bring Detroit back and this is just a positive step on Detroit coming back."