If there's any indication of how strongly Cincinnati voters feel about clean neighborhoods, it's this: City Council is now considering four different plans to sweep the streets.

        The $1.3 million the city spends on street sweeping is getting more attention than any other item in the proposed 2002 budget of $993 million.

        The latest proposal came Wednesday from Councilman John Cranley at a news conference at the litter-strewn Peebles Corner in Walnut Hills.

        It's the most expensive to date. The price tag: $4.3 million — more than three times what the city spends now.

        Mr. Cranley said street sweepers would make the rounds 12 times a year (they now make four), 50 percent more vacant lots would be cleaned and a “rapid response team” would respond to complaints within 24 hours.

        To pay for it, Mr. Cranley would eliminate 186 positions.

        “Our priorities, in my opinion, are way out of whack,” he said. “Instead of hiring people to write reports telling us there's litter, we ought to hire more people to pick up the litter.”

        The unfilled positions include accountants, secretaries and engineers, but also public health nurses, snow plow drivers and 13 emergency 911 operators.
        Council will adopt a new budget next week.

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