Do it yourself PPE

Surgical Masks

The do-it-yourself "surgical mask" patterns I have been able to find on the web use ear loops and don't have a nose clip. That is dangerous unless it is worn over an N95 mask (to make the N95 masks reusable).

Fabric surgical masks to protect people from virus and bacterial infections must have three things:
1) Layers of fabric to assure a small enough hole size (4 layers for tee shirt fabric, 2 for shirt fabric, 1 for 100-count sheets).
2) Two elastic bands (or 4 tie straps) – one that wraps around the back of the neck and one that wraps around the back of the head near the top.
3) A nose clip that presses the fabric around the nose and against the cheeks.

The most important thing about a cloth mask is that it seals to the face around the mouth and nose. If the wearer sneezes or coughs, all air must be forced to pass through the mask.

Pattern:

1) Cut a 7" by 5" (18 cm x 13 cm) or wider section of clean fabric from a 100-count or better sheet. For shirt or quilt fabric use two layers with the good side up.
2) Cut 2 12" (30 cm) lengths of 6 mm (1/4 inch) elastic or 4 12" lengths of bias tape, shoelace or ribbon. Masks made with bias tape are the longest lasting and may be machine-washed. Masks made with elastic are the easiest to put on or take off but must be hand washed.
3) Cut a 1/4" (6 mm) by 3 inches (8 cm) piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil and fold it in half to make a 1/8" (3 mm) strip. Alternatively, straighten a small (about 1" or 2.5 cm) paperclip.
4) Fold back 1/2" (12 mm) of the fabric in the long direction (to 7" x 4.5"). Iron flat (if you can) to get a crisp fold.
The first four steps should be repeated for several masks before you begin sewing.

5) Center the paperclip or aluminum strip inside the fold. Sew around the metal to hold it in place.
6) Insert the end of one of the elastic pieces about 1/2 inch (1 cm) into the corner of the fold and sew an X over the elastic (or sew over it twice with a zigzag stitch. Substitute bias tape, shoelace, or ribbon if desired.
7) Sew down to the nearest open corner and sew in the second elastic piece (or bias tape, shoelace, or ribbon).
8) Sew along the long side of the fabric to the opposite open corner.
9) Wrap the elastic to the other open corner and sew in place the same way (or sew-in another bias tape, shoelace, section or ribbon).
10) Sew up the edge of the fabric to the last corner and sew the remaining elastic end (or bias tape, shoelace, or ribbon) in place.
11) If the mask is made with bias tape, sew along the open edge of the bias tape and sew closed the end of the tape.
12) Tie off any loose threads.

Updated April 5, 2020


Protecting your ears

If you have had frequent ear infection, it might be possible to contract infections through your ears. A small cotton ball in your ears will help protect your ears from infection and to protect you from an epidemic entering through the ears.


Face shield

Face shields are imperfect, but help to protect from infections through the eyes and allow you to wear a mask for hours at a time. Without a face shield, a mask must be changed every time you or another person in the vicinity coughs or sneezes.

Purchase some heavy-duty sheet protectors, some packing tape and some shoelaces (or ribbons) between 36 and 40 inches long. Also, obtain some alcohol prep swabs (or wipes).

1) Cut the large sides from the sheet protectors. These are the face of the shield.
For each face shield:
2) Cut a length of tape the width (short side) of the sheet protector, center the tape over the edge of the sheet protector so that half falls is on the plastic and half over the edge. Fold the tape over the edge. This serves to soften the edge where it leans on your head.
3) Center the shoelace or ribbon over the plastic, about 3/4 inc (about 18 mm) from the top.
4) Cut another piece of tape about the width of the plastic. Line the edge of the tape with the top of the plastic and tape down the shoelace (or ribbon).
5) When you wear the face shield, the shoelace or ribbon goes on the outside of the shield.

To clean a disinfect a face shield between patients (or trips out of the house), wipe it with an alcohol swab. If it is dirty, you can wash it with a paper towel dipped in soapy water, followed by rinsing the shield. Disinfect after washing.


Hand Sanitizer - in a pinch

It is best to use commercial hand sanitizers if you can. Given the shortage of commercial sanitizers, many people are trying to make their own. Unfortunately, most of the recipes on the Internet are not very good.

If you have access to 70% alcohol (denatured ethanol) or 70% isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) you could use that instead of hand sanitizer, but it will dry out your hands. It is recommended to add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of glycerin (aka glycerol) per liter/quart. If you cannot find glycerin, you can add mineral oil to isopropyl alcohol (as a last resort, you can add vegetable oil).

Avoid buying higher than 71% alcohol if you have a choice. If you have 95% denatured alcohol or 90+ percent isopropyl alcohol, add 20% distilled (or purified) water and 4 tablespoons (60 ml) per liter/quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide before adding the glycerine.

Homemade hand sanitizers should never contain flavoring, fragrances, or anything containing sugar. Never add aloe to a hand sanitizer, since it contains sugar.

Caution: Alcohol and hand sanitizers are flammable and toxic


Trash-Bag Gown

Inexpensive trash bags can be converted for use as a gown to protect clothing from contamination. This is only necessary when you are near somebody who is infected.

Top
Cut a 9-inch slit at the bottom of a "tall kitchen trash bag" for your head (larger people might need 30-gallon bags).
Cut 5-inch slits on the sides near the bottom of the bag for your arms.
Tape two smaller plastic bags (either 3-gallon trash bags or produce bags) with their open ends over the slits.
Cut a 3" slit in the bottom of each smaller bag for your hands.

Bottom
You can cut the bottom off of a drawstring bag and wear the drawstring bag over pants or a skirt to protect the bottom half of your clothes. If the top bag is a drawstring bag, the top overlaps the bottom. Otherwise, the drawstring bottom bag goes over the top bag.

If you don't have drawstring bags, you can make a double-length bag by removing the bottom of a second bag and taping the two bags together.

Attaching gloves
If you wear gloves, the gloves should go over the bottom of the smaller bags.
Nitrile gloves are best. They can be washed with alcohol swabs or hand sanitizer.


Making Alcohol Prep Swabs

Alcohol prep swabs are paper toweling soaked with 70% alcohol or isopropyl alcohol. Prep swab should always be stored in a sealed container (such as a zipper bag).

To make prep swabs, cut as many 1 1/4 inch by 2.5 inches (3 cm by 6 cm) sections of paper towel and fold each in half.

Put the sections of paper towel in a zipper plastic bag and pour enough alcohol over them to wet them thoroughly. There should be a small amount of liquid alcohol at the bottom of the bag.

Caution: Alcohol is flammable and toxic


Storing PPE

All used PPE should be disinfected with alcohol (or prep swabs) and stored in a paper (or unsealed plastic) bag if they are to be reused.

Anything like gloves or gowns should be stored inside out after use and then put back the right way before wearing them again. To remove gloves, always grab them by the hem and invert them when taking them off (leave them inside out).

Sanitize your hands (or gloves) after taking off or putting on used PPE.


Disposing of used PPE

If you wear gloves, always grab them by the hem and invert them when taking them off (leave them inside out). Any gowns, caps, or booties should also be inverted before disposal.

Hospitals or medical offices use blue coded trash bags for possibly infected PPE. The trash bags are always covered and sealed before disposal. Do not confuse this with Red or Black trash, which contains items contaminated with blood.

Personal PPE, tissues, and used alcohol swabs must be stored in a sealed plastic bag. Before disposing of the bag, add a small amount of disinfectant and reseal the bag. Over time, the disinfectant will evaporate and kill any bacteria or viruses in the bag.

This information or any subset may be used by the public, provided credit is given to the author.
Martin Katz, Ph.D.

Comments for the Federal Budget

The budget proposed by the President includes cuts to many important programs. The only acceptable cuts are to the Military Strategic Defense (nuclear) funding by unilaterally reducing warhead count (only 50 can ever be used), transfer of funding for the DEA and drug law enforcement to medical care for addicts, and elimination of subsidies for all businesses operating in multiple states.

The DoD needs an increase in funding of one billion dollars per year for repairs and upgrades required by the flooding of bases. Two billion dollars per year are required for repairs and upgrades of infrastructure due to our changing climate (including new water storage, aquifer injection, and better-designed flood control).

Funding for Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security must be Increased by 10% as a start toward restoring past cuts. Before Medicare can be expanded to cover more people, compensation to providers must be increased by 30%.

Farms were hard hit this year (both by the president's trade policies and by flooding), and small farmers (those operating in only one state) need no-interest loans to bridge them over the next two years. Priority must be given to farmers who are converting to no-till farming with drip irrigation (a two year, topsoil saving project).

Funding for the National Flood Insurance forgiveness and doubled funding for floodplain mapping are required because of our changing climate. FEMA is not qualified to perform floodplain mapping - supervision must be transferred to the NOAA.

Funding for all scientific and intelligence agencies must be restored to 2016 levels, with a 6% inflation increase. Homeland Security needs an increase in funding to increase monitoring of publicly available social media content and communication addressing (Project Thin Wire) for signs of impending domestic violence, workplace violence, school violence, and suicide (all to be reported to local authorities), and domestic terrorism.

Funding must be authorized for proper housing and care for immigrants detained for lack of a visa. By law, they must be treated as asylum-seekers until a court decrees otherwise. All detainees without a felony warrant must be kept in dormitory-style housing with real beds and bathroom privacy. All detainees are eligible for Medicaid and must be provided with a medical examination and medical care. All detained minors must be monitored by state Children's Services and must receive public school education. All detainees are entitled to an attorney with a caseload no larger than the prosecutors. All detainees must receive an English Immersion language education.

Dealing with Climate Change

Any Climate Change initiative must also target methane as well as carbon dioxide entering the environment because methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. Methane leaks from the petroleum industry and manufacturing are out of control and must be reduced by 90% (by the petroleum industry, I include natural gas collection, hydraulic fracturing, petroleum cracking, and transport).

An effective Climate bill should include (dates and amounts are suggestions):

1) Require that all burning of coal or coal products in the US be terminated by January 1, 2024, including steel manufacturing and prohibit the importation of new steel or electricity created by burning coal or coal products after that date.

2) No new licenses for new energy generation facilities in the United States, powered by burning fossil fuels, may be issued after one year after the law is passed. No energy generation facilities within the United States shall install new fossil fuel burners after 2040.

3) Carbon dioxide, methane, organic vapors, and halogenated organic gases must be defined as air pollutants and subject to fines for release beyond regulatory levels from commercial sources; a cap and trade system should be included. The regulations must price carbon dioxide at $100 per kg (in 2020 dollars), methane at 20 times the carbon dioxide level, and halogenated organic gases at 100 times the carbon dioxide level. Beginning in 2025, the cap must be reduced by 5% (five percent) per year relative to 2015 releases.

3a) This applies to all commercial processes and all commercial sales. This includes (but is not limited to) the sales of fuel, production of cement, and fermentation).

3b) Carbon dioxide released from burning biowaste shall be excluded. Wood harvested from living plants over 10 years old shall not be considered biowaste unless it is recycled material.

3c) Generation of pollutants by end-user burning of fuels shall be applied to the cap of the fuel provider.

3d) Generation of electricity through fuel cells is burning.

4) Phosphorus, nitrogen, sodium, potassium, all organic compounds, and all toxins are water pollutants.

4a) The release of these materials into freshwater or soil from agricultural or urban sources shall be subject to the same cap and trade system as in (3). Phosphate releases shall be priced at $200 per kg, non-biodegradable toxins priced at $100 per gram (one hundred thousand dollars per kilogram), biodegradable toxins at $1000 per kg, and others as determined by regulatory agencies.

5) Effective January 1, 2030, no new vehicles intended to be powered by burning fossil fuel may be manufactured in the United States. No vehicles manufactured after that date that burn fossil fuels may be imported into the United States, may dock in the United States, may land in the United States, or be transshipped through the United States.
5b) Vehicles burning biofuels shall be excluded from this restriction.

6) Nothing in this law is intended to override stricter regulations or stricter local or state laws.

7) Appropriation of two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) per year in alternate energy and pollution recovery research to the National Science and Technology Foundation annually through 2050. Pollution recovery is the extraction of pollutants from the air, water, or soil to either render the material useful or store it in a non-toxic form.

7a) This funding may be used for research into processes intended to reduce solar radiation entering the lower atmosphere, provided the process does not reduce photosynthesis.

7b) Grants for research into efficient creation of fuels from waste material may be funded from this allocation.

8) Appropriation of four times the median annual income for retraining of each person whose job is lost due to changes in businesses required for the implementation of this law, for climate improvement during the 5 years prior to the passage of this law, or due to automation after the passage of this law.

9) The budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the United States Department of Agriculture shall be increased to monitor and advise on these provisions.

10) An allocation equal to ten percent (10%) of the budget of the Department of Defense shall be made for assistance in mitigation of droughts, floods, rising sea level, storm damage, and other weather extremes.

11) The allocation to the NOAA shall include doubling of computer power for climate and weather modeling every 4 years and doubling of the number of pollution and weather monitoring equipment by the year 2030.

The War on Drugs is a War on Americans

"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

That requires an end to laws against people doing things to be happy (elimination of Puritanism in our laws). Laws that are based on specific ideas of propriety are contrary to good government.

Treating drug addiction as a medical problem instead of a criminal problem will save at least 50,000 US lives per year.

Drug Scheduling must be revised such that drugs are not illegal because they are "Abusable." The only drugs that should be in Schedules 1 and 2 are those that are severely harmful or physically habituating and interfere with life.

As we learned in the 1880s, outlawing a drug increases the attraction to use of that drug. Any drug that is not more dangerous than Alcohol should not be restricted. Habituating drugs that do not prevent a normal life should not be restricted.

Dangerous drugs include PCP and any other drug that, when taken in a reasonable dose, causes more than 1% of people to become a danger to themselves or the people around them. Additionally, any drug that causes fatal or nearly fatal reactions in more than 1% of people who take the drug for the first time is dangerous.

Any drug determined to be safe and effective in an Industrialized Nation should be available for import to the US and use under prescription, if necessary. No separate US testing should be required, and if the drug is manufactured in the US, it should be as a generic.

Drugs that are safe when taken orally in reasonable doses should be made available as a generic oral formulation, even if the drug is dangerous when injected or inhaled. That is especially important for long-term substitutes for dangerous opioids.

Finally, drugs with at least a 10-year history of use by humans or animals, in any nation, without serious side effects should be legal for that use in the US. An example is DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide), a widely used topical pain reliever illegal for human use in the US, but with over a century of veterinary use in the US (it cannot be tested in a double-blind study).

None of this means that manufacturing for sale or sale without a license of an intoxicating drug should be universally legal. States may require licenses for sale of a drug and may restrict the sale of a drug to minors.

None of this allows the use of a drug in a manner that causes a hazard to others (such as driving while intoxicated with alcohol, nicotine, or any other impairing drug).

The Fairness Doctrine

It is better for almost everybody when society provides a way for the poor to advance based on ability and hard work. 
That is both the American way and the Christian way. Many people are confused about Jesus' teachings: "Fairness" was mistranslated as "charity."

Fairness is the underlying concept of progressivism. The very rich and their stooges (like the libertarian and Tea Party caucuses) are regressionists. All that is necessary to counter this is a public relations campaign about the advantage of fairness.

Without preventive health care for all residents, epidemics spread. Without proper public health education, people avoid vaccinating their children. Preventive health care includes visiting a doctor regularly. Saving money by skipping preventive health care can cost ten times as much later. Paying for health care for the public is a great investment of public funds

Part of preventive health care is proper nutrition. This requires education of both children and adults about healthy eating, including how to make healthy meals and healthy snacks. and what foods are toxic if consumed regularly. It also means providing foods that contribute to a healthy diet. The equivalent of a prenatal vitamin and mineral capsule should be provided as 1/2 capsule twice per day.

Good, simple, nutritional advice is to include fiber, protein, carbohydrates, and fat in every meal or snack. Eat about equal Calories from protein, carbohydrates and fat. Three grams of fiber should be included per two hundred Calories (for example, 25 grams for a 1600 Calorie diet). Plenty of non-caffeinated, alcohol-free, and low sugar liquids are important, usually 2 quarts per day.

Food baskets for the poor are an example of what not to provide: The food baskets provided to poor people contain mostly unhealthy foods. They contain protein foods such as non-fat powdered milk and Velveeta (cheese mixed with whole milk), but about 1/4 of adults are lactose intolerant - substituting 1% fat powdered Lactaid milk would be far better. Cheese should be fully ripened. Jars of sweetened juice cocktail contain too much sugar, reduced vitamins compared to fruit, and no fiber. Gelatin powder containing freeze-dried fruit and sliced almonds make a healthy snack. High salt items like saltines and canned soup are contraindicated for the general public. Lightly salted (1 mg of sodium per Calorie) bean soup with a vegetable smoothie instead of broth makes an excellent meal. For single retired people, single serving packaging should be provided (15 fl oz cans are generally a useless size). All foods should only require mixing with water and microwave heating after pouring onto a plate or into a bowl. Baking mix, fresh or liquid eggs, peanut butter, ramen, and canned vegetables should all be avoided.

Improving prediction of tropical storms and hurricanes

Unfortunately, the paths of cyclones are not predictable enough yet to pin down exactly where a storm will travel. Cyclone paths respond to temperature, pressure, and flow variations at the ocean surface, and the entire column of air up to a level higher than the clouds generated by the cyclone.

Our best knowledge of actual conditions is at sea level. Satellites report temperature, flow, and the sea level. Satellites can provide some mid-atmosphere data by cloud-top temperature and cloud movement, but it is difficult to determine temperatures and motion of clear air. Aircraft only measure a small part of the atmosphere. Upper atmosphere data samples can be hundreds of kilometers apart outside of aviation lanes.

One proposed solution is to place anchored smart buoys in a grid throughout the oceans, using GPS satellites to create a tomographic picture of the atmosphere (like a CAT scan). Covering the oceans with 300 km squares would require almost 3000 buoys (additional buoys would be placed strategically). The Doppler effect of the earth's atmosphere would create tiny changes in the calculated 4-dimensional location reported from the satellite data. By using at least 5 satellites at a time, each buoy could compute both the radio wave absorption and the Doppler effect along the path through the atmosphere of radio signals from each of the satellites. As the satellites move, the radio signal from each satellite forms a slice through the atmosphere every 30 minutes. Using more satellites would create a more dense mesh of slices.

GPS satellites only send information (they only receive information from command centers for station-keeping). All of the GPS receivers calculate the distance to a satellite by using the time the radio signal takes to reach the receiver. By using 4 satellites the location of a GPS receiver can be computed in three dimensions. Aircraft and ships on the open ocean are in "line of sight" to at least 7 GPS satellites. When somebody says they are using GPS to locate an item such as a mobile phone or car, they are sending the item a command to report its location (as measured by GPS), the GPS system itself does not respond to those requests.

The problem with this proposal is the expense of the buoys, their deployment, anchoring, and maintenance. Paying for and deploying buoys in the open ocean would have to be a multi-national effort and would have to be approved by the UN. The US GPS system is the most extensive but other nations have deployed similar systems. The satellite systems are all primarily intended for military use and the most precise information is encrypted. Another problem is that the buoys could also interfere with ships and the local habitat.

The buoys would obtain their power from solar cells and/or wave motion. The batteries would require replacement about every decade. They would also have reflectors to make to warn approaching ships at night. They would not be visible to submarines unless each buoy generates a periodic sonar chirp, which could interfere with sea life.

Because they use a solar panel, bird lime could cause a problem. By locating the antennas away from the solar panel and making the antennas bird perches, bird lime on the solar cells could be minimized. Wave motion generators would use the vertical motion of the buoy on the tether to generate electricity. The tether would need a Teflon-like coating to eliminate fouling by sea life.

The buoys would report their data using a Bluetooth-like system in cooperative mode. Cooperative mode means each buoy retransmits the data it receives from some of its neighbors. The data would eventually be received by land-based stations. Use of five-watt transmitters would limit interference with other radio frequency use.The antenna for communication between buoys would have to be high enough that waves and the earth's curvature will not block line-of-sight communication.

Economics in the Trump Administration

Assuming that Mr. Trump actually abrogates free trade agreements and the Paris Accords, while reducing taxes on the wealthy and reducing support for the indigent, I predict a recession combined with high inflation for the US in 2018. What are your thoughts?
Because the poor and lower middle class live paycheck to paycheck (no significant savings), they spend almost all of their money as soon as they receive it. This results in a multiplier effect, building the economy. Economists estimate that every dollar invested in the poor and middle class grows the economy by three dollars.
Because the rich hoard part of their income and spend part of it on imported luxury items, giving money to the rich (by tax cuts) supports the economy dollar for dollar (no multiplier). Historically, tax cuts during stable economic times lead to inflation and eventually to a recession.
The Paris Accords contain an anti-abrogation clause. That means any nation that pulls out of the treaty is subject to sanctions. These sanctions are likely to restrict both imports and exports. Sudden restriction on exports will lead to reduced sales for US firms and increased unemployment. Sudden restriction on imports will lead to temporary shortages and inflation. Sanctions can also be expected to lead to a weakened dollar, which leads to inflation.
Any sudden increases in tariffs will cause shortages and increased prices until US manufacturers can gear up to provide the desired products. For most companies, that process takes at least 6 months, longer with higher interest rates. Interest rates are already increasing in anticipation of such needs.

Pet Peeves About Drivers

Many people get angry when others leave their turn signal on while driving. To me, that is a minor inconvenience. I strongly dislike the following drivers:

1. Cowboys
   Cowboys are drivers (men or women) who frequently change lanes, in an attempt to get to their destination a little faster. Cowboys are greedy and responsible for most traffic slowdowns. A single lane on a highway or freeway can carry about 1000 cars per hour. However, frequent lane changes can slow traffic to half of the maximum speed. In fact, road engineers say that there is a golden range of traffic per lane, where traffic is too heavy to change lanes, so traffic actually moves faster.
   
   Cowboys rarely shorten their trip by more than a few seconds, while they tend to use much more fuel and increased wear on their brakes and tires.
   
   
2. Tailgaters
   When I am driving, some drivers are in a hurry and follow my car at 5 to 15 feet. Some drivers say that they are preventing another car from moving in front of them. Others are trying to force me to either move faster or change lanes. When we are traveling at the speed limit, the other driver is just being greedy and very dangerous.
   
   For normal drivers the time for the brain to recognize a change in the road ahead is over .4 seconds and it takes about 1/10 second for the response to move from the brain to the muscles. That means a driver who is concentrating intently on the road cannot respond faster than 1/2 second. This means the car will move over 7 1/3 feet per 10 miles per hour (48 feet at 65 miles per hour) before the driver can respond.
   
   If a car changes into the lane in front of your car, you need at least twice the minimum reaction distance. That is why the recommended following distance is 14 to 15 feet per 10 miles per hour (at least 91 feet at 65 miles per hour). Trying to block a driver from entering your lane is not only greedy, but it creates a hazardous condition if the other driver must change lanes to reach an exit or to move across to an HOV (carpool) lane.
   
   Tailgaters are responsible for most rear-end collisions.
   
   
3. Drivers Who Do Not Know the Limits of Their Vehicle
   Most cars sold in the US come with tires rated for 80 miles per hour. Driving faster than that speed causes the tires to overheat and blowout. High-speed tires are available, but most drivers do not know they are necessary. The brakes, steering gear, and suspension of most cars is also limited to 80 miles per hour (even some cars with "Sports Packages"). No public roads in the US are designed for speeds over 80 miles per hour.
   
   
4. Under-Designed Roadway
   Here in the Los Angeles area, streets are designed and built for automobiles and trucks below a certain weight. However, trash trucks often exceed that weight and break the pavement when they turn or accelerate. Fiber reinforced pavement is almost twice as strong as regular pavement (even stronger than pavement with rebar). The fiber is not expensive and has been available for decades. Yet cities don't use it.
   
   
5. Speed Traps and Similar Restrictions
   A local example is that there are special roads for buses. Crossing the bus road is restricted for a much longer time than is necessary for the buses.
   
   
6. School Zones
   In most urban areas, schools are completely surrounded by fences for security. The original purpose of school zones was to slow traffic enough to stop if a child runs into the street. That cannot happen with fenced schools. Slowing traffic when passing a school is no longer necessary. School crossing signs are still important.
   
   
7. Parking Space Thieves
   Almost all city drivers are familiar with this. You are waiting for a space to open and signaling that you are going to enter the space, when suddenly another driver zips into the space. An even worse situation is when one is parallel parking and backing into a parking space when another car, dangerously, fills the space one is partially in.
   
   
8. Street Cleaning Times
   Over the past 50 years, the average number of cars per household has increased from 1 to almost 2.5. This means that there is no available street parking in many neighborhoods. When one side of the street is closed for street cleaning, there is no legal place within several blocks to park one's car. Because street cleaners rarely start their runs on time, the street is unavailable at least four times the necessary time. Even worse is the street cleaning routes where the cleaner always comes after the allotted time.