Social media campaign solicited over 300 possible names, San Diegans to choose favorite among top three finalists

SAN DIEGO – To raise public awareness of the importance of street sweeping to neighborhood quality of life, the City of San Diego last month asked San Diegans for their help in naming the new 100% electric mini street sweeper and received over 300 suggestions via social media and email.

Those choices have been whittled down to three finalists:

Sweep-E
The Blue Broomba
T.E.S.S. (The Electric Street Sweeper).

Now the City is asking San Diegans to choose their favorite. Go to thinkblue.org to cast your vote and become eligible for raffle prizes, including SeaWorld tickets. Voting opened on Monday, November 14 and will go through Nov. 23. The city’s Stormwater Department will then paint the mini sweeper blue with its new name as part of its Think Blue San Diego public outreach and education initiative.

“We want to thank all the San Diegans and people from around the world who suggested creative names for our little sweeper,” said Bethany Bezak, the Interim Director of the Stormwater Department. “We chose these three finalists because we felt they can give our mini sweeper some personality and attitude as she keeps our neighborhoods clean from trash and pollution.”

Street sweeping provides two primary benefits: Keeping the streets clean of trash and debris and protecting water quality. It also contributes to the city’s mobility, sustainability and climate action goals.

Rainfall that enters storm drains is not treated, and that runoff collects pollutants from properties and streets and carries them into local waterways. Street sweeping helps remove both large and microscopic pollutants, such as brake dust from vehicles, before they reach a storm drain. Those particles can be extremely harmful to fish and other wildlife.

The city’s fleet of 20 sweepers routinely cover 2,700 miles of streets annually, removing 220,000 pounds of trash and debris. That’s equivalent to the weight of 23 million single use, disposable cups.

The electric mini sweeper – the only one of its kind in the city fleet – has zero emissions and its electric motor results in a significant noise reduction compared to a regular street sweeper. This allows operators to work early in the morning and late at night without disturbing residents.

Residents and visitors can help improve street sweeping efforts by parking in legal parking spaces, taking in trash cans immediately on trash collection days, and reporting illegal dumping and other problems promptly to the City’s Get It Done application. Visit the city’s interactive street sweeping map (https://sandiego.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=ee3b1f22fc6246bbbc9349a0c866132c) to find out more information about routes and schedules.

(City of San Diego Release)