DEARBORN — A change is on the way regarding Dearborn’s Public Service Days program.

Launched in January, Public Service Days promote cleaner neighborhoods in Dearborn.

But, in order for city crews to deliver services in the most efficient manner on those Public Service Days, residents need to keep their parked vehicles off the streets on the days designated for their neighborhoods. That means that twice a month, residents must move their parked cars.

So far, only notices of violations have been issued to people who leave parked vehicles on the street during their neighborhood’s two Public Service Days each month.

But starting the week of Monday, March 17, the police department will begin issuing final notices of violations, alerting residents that actual enforcement will start soon.

“When a Public Service Day happens in your neighborhood, you must remove parked vehicles from the street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day. Since this is a new requirement, it’s been appropriate to give people time to learn about the program,” said Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. “Our interest is in delivering the best services possible to our neighborhoods, not to ticket residents.”

“And now we’re moving into a new stage of this educational period and everyone needs to know that we’re going to a new level of attention from now on regarding following the Public Service Day rules,” the mayor said.

The next week of Public Service Days will be March 3-7. After that, the next week of Public Service Days will be March 17-21.

Beginning March 17, owners of parked vehicles who have not moved them off of the street during their neighborhood’s scheduled Public Service Days will receive final notices of violation, the last level of enforcement action before ticketing and towing occur.

Public Service Days happen twice a month on your trash pickup day:  once on your trash pickup day that falls during the first full week of each month, and again on your trash pickup day two weeks later in the same month.

For example, take the month of March:  If your trash pickup day is Monday each week, your neighborhood’s Public Service Days are March 3 and March 17.

Residents can check their 2008 City of Dearborn calendar for a complete schedule of Public Service Days for each neighborhood. The schedule is also posted at www.cityofdearborn.org and on CDTV, which is cable channel 12 on Comcast and cable channel 10 on WOW.

On Public Service Days, neighborhoods will get a concentrated dose of city services – everything from curb to curb ice scraping in the winter to street sweeping (April through October), tree trimming and catch basin cleaning.

All parked vehicles and trash containers must be kept off of the streets from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. during Public Service Days in your neighborhood. (Note that the hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., not the hours listed in the city calendar.)

Note that you only have to move your vehicle off of the street from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on your neighborhood’s Public Service Day – not for the entire week. For example, in March residents whose trash pickup days are Mondays will need to move parked vehicles off of the street only on March 3 and March 17.

Also, please note that existing city ordinance prohibits residents from putting trash containers in the street at any time, including your regular pickup day. All trash, yard waste and recycling must be placed on the easement. This is required on every trash pickup day, not just those that coincide with your neighborhood’s Public Service Days.