Uniontown street sweeper broken
With the city’s street sweeper out of commission, Uniontown Mayor James Sileo is asking residents to sweep ashes from their sidewalks and pile them at the curb so city workers can pick them up and take them away. Sileo said the city’s street sweeper was damaged Tuesday after an accident at 110 Coolspring St.
According to the police report, Denise D. Stewart, 43 of 144 Chaffee St. hit the sweeper from behind at about 7 a.m. Police said Stewart and sweeper driver Mark A. Franks, 42, of 241 Wilson Ave. both were taken to Uniontown Hospital and checked out.
“Thank God they weren’t hurt. She said she was traveling south on Coolspring Street when she saw a large cloud of dust, hit her brakes and hit the sweeper,” Sileo said, adding that the city fire department, police and EMS responded to the accident.
He said he certainly understands how the accident could happen, because the streets and sidewalks of the city are dusty from winter ashes. “That’s why I’m asking all residents to help us out and to sweep their sidewalks and put the ashes in a pile at the curb,” said Sileo. “After they pile them up, they need to give me a call at 724-439-9282 and I’ll have the street crew pick them up.”
He said he doesn’t know how long the street sweeper will be down, but it will require $15,000 to $20,000 in repairs. “We can’t afford to buy a new one, because they cost about $200,000,” he said. “The problem is that we only have the one street sweeper, so we are going to have to fix it or get it fixed.”
Sileo said the city bought the sweeper in 1989 and has been trying to rent another street sweeper but so far has had no success.