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For info on 3rd party aggregators, including those used by WalMart, Best Buy and others, we have a new section in our Parking Contractors section.

Our January e-newsletter, was sent via email on the 24th. If you didn't get a copy in your inbox, sign up at our Guestbook. If you have signed our Guestbook and didn't receive it, be sure to look in your spam folder.

Schwarze Industries, Inc. has announced "the Schwarze Parts Giveaway Sweepstakes." Through March 31, you can enter by signing up on the company's Facebook page. Take a look at their news release.

Keystone Plastics, a leading manufacturer of street sweeping brooms and brushes, has launched a newly redesigned website. Check out their news release.

In the November/December 2011 issue of Stormwater magazine noted sweeper researcher, Roger Sutherland, offered a guest editorial on the relationship between sweeping and stormwater runoff pollutant removal.

Starting this January 3rd, a new US law bans commercial drivers from using hand-held cell phones. Fines are stiff – up to $2,700 per offense for truckers caught in violation.

We wish all our readers a healthy and profitable 2012! Our first Featured Contractor for 2012 offers an interview with Steve Dekelbaum, president of Washington DC-based Quiet Sweep, Ltd.

Our exclusive advance preview of the upcoming SweeperMarket was posted on January 3rd. Our online preview provides our readers with at least a full week's headstart on those who won't see the ads until the magazine arrives by mail.

Our December e-newsletter, which contains a followup article on our previous story about NAPSA, was sent via email on the 14th. If you didn't get a copy in your inbox, sign up at our Guestbook. If you have signed our Guestbook and didn't receive it, be sure to look in your spam folder.

Elizabeth White, of the California Air Resources Board, offers information to California sweeping contractors affected by the agency's rulings. Deadlines are coming up fast.

Did you spot the new square, black-and-white QR Code toward the top of the website? If you have a smartphone you may want to scan it – and then read our article about how QR Codes are taking the U.S. internet by storm!

On November 19th long-time sweeping contractor, Dale McCaskill, Sr. tragically lost his life in an automobile accident. Dale was a past president and founding member of the North American Power Sweeping Association (NAPSA). In addition, McCaskill was the recipient of WorldSweeper.com's Award of Excellence in Power Sweeping for 2009.

Dave Ross, president of Boston area's Millennium Maintenance And Power Sweeping, sent us a tip his company uses to keep drivers safer in inclement weather, during holidays, etc. It becomes Tip #117 in our Tips & Techniques section.

Elgin now has a partnership Autocar to develop industry's first Class 7 cabover chassis specifically designed for the street sweeper application.

Former Allianz VP Walter Pusic's company, Global Environmental Products, announced that it has purchased the inventory and the rights to the now bankrupt Allianz Sweeper's mechanical 3000 and 4000 product lines.

Congratulations to Richard Arlington, of Affiliated Grounds Maintenance and Richard Arlington Associates, who has been awarded the Snow Industry Commitment Award by SIMA.

WalMart is now requiring all exterior maintenance contractors – including sweeping contractors – utilize ServiceChannel.

The WorldSweeper.com website garnered a 2011 APEX Award of Excellence, making it a winner for the fourth year in a row! In addition, we won an additional Award for our feature on the cleanup of Black Rock City (Burning Man). I am honored that these awards mark an unprecedented 16 years in a row that one or more of my projects have received recognition via a national APEX Award.

All of our coverage of National Pavement Expo 2011 is still online. In case you haven't yet seen it all, now's a great time to check it out!

In conjunction with consumer ratings website, Consupo.com, WorldSweeper is the first pavement-oriented media we are aware of to provide a one-stop rating and evaluation website link for National Service Providers. Check it out!

The archive of our February 24th Tele-Seminar by Richard Arlington, "Working With National Service Providers," was tremendous. Arlington's seminar info is a 'must have' for anyone dealing with 3rd party aggregators! And, it's just $50.

Michigan-based Ray Confer, President of C&J Parking Lot Sweeping, Inc., was chosen as recipient of WorldSweeper.com's 2011 Award of Excellence in Power Sweeping.

Stay out from behind the 'Chapter 11 eightball' by keeping up with our exhaustive list of troubled companies. And let us know of any companies to add!

Are you a Facebook Fan of WorldSweeper.com yet? Our Fans often receive advance notice of our newsletter, as well as a variety of industry tidbits not meriting an actual article.

Safety must top the list of all organizations. Our article, from nationally recognized safety manager, John Meola, offers a 'Top Ten' list to ensure that you are operating a safe organization.

If you're buying a sweeper or other capital equipment, be sure to use WorldSweeper.com's 'One Click' Finance Program. It's the easiest way we know of to get quotes from a number of lenders by filling out just one form. When vendors compete -- you win!

Finally, if you are a vendor to the sweeping industry and don't yet advertise here, please consider doing so with either a banner ad or a Sweeping Products listing. And, with as much traffic as this area gets, all contractors in America are missing a bet by not being in our Contractor Locator.

As you can see from the logos above the headline, we have an RSS feed on the website, as well as links to our Twitter and Facebook accounts. These are easy ways to keep up with news at WorldSweeper.com. We also offer a web page that contains the latest articles we've added to the site.

Good Sweeping,

-- Ranger Kidwell-Ross, editor
First time here? Please read my introductory welcome message. Updated information is also periodically available at my blog, The Editor's Notebook.

GUESTBOOK If you haven't filled out our Guestbook, we can't send you late-breaking industry information. If you're involved with sweeping, please take time to provide us with your contact information. PARKING AREA SWEEPERS Here is our area dedicated to the needs of the parking area sweeping community. Check it out. You'll find a wide selection of news you can use in your business, right now, today. DISCUSSION FORUM Discuss industry topics with others in sweeping. Our discussion forums offer a variety of topics, or make up your own. Plus, we have buy/sell classifieds for sweeping and sweeping-related equipment. (opens in new window) SWEEPER POSTCARDS What better way to show you're part of the industry than by including a sweeper photo, drawing or cartoon in your email? Our online postcards are great to use as industry-related thank you notes, all occasion greeting cards and to show others what a sweeper looks like now or in the past. Choose from sweeper-related cartoons, drawings, photos and toys. CONTRACTOR LOCATOR Do you offer sweeping or related services, or would you like to hire a sweeping contractor? If so, you'll want to check out our contractor locator section. (opens in new window)

WHAT'S NEW Here is where you'll find the latest stories we've posted online. You'll want to check often to find out the latest in industry news. STREET SWEEPING You'll find everything to do with street sweeping here. If that is the segment of the sweeping industry you are involved with, you'll want to check it out. SWEEPER SLIDESHOWS Want to see what sweepers used to be like? If so, you'll definitely want to check out our collection of old sweeper pictures. Some of the photos are even for sale, and what would look better on your office wall?! SWEEPING PRODUCTS Need to fix your sweeper, buy a new one or find the best deals and suppliers for sweeping-related products? As a way to show them you appreciate their support for this site, please do your shopping from manufacturers who support WorldSweeper.com. If you sell to the sweeping industry, be sure to sign up for your free or enhanced product listing! (opens in new window) SWEEPING AROUND THE WORLD Sweeping is a worldwide industry, but the techniques vary enormously depending upon where it's being done. We have a number of stories about how sweeping is done in various locations of the world, many from the award-winning online travelogues penned by our editor while traveling in Asia, Australia and Europe. You'll want to take a look.

FEATURED CONTRACTOR We're proud to feature this professional sweeping contractor on our home page. Quiet Sweep, Ltd. Eight years ago, Steve Dekelbaum had a good handle on the course that his future business life would take. He'd gotten his pastry chef certificate in 2004 and was utilizing it in the family business. At the same time, he managed the shopping center where their business was located. However, that's when fate stepped in. Our feature article on the company discusses how, in the seven years since Dekelbaum and his wife purchased the company, Quiet Sweep has grown from three beat-up sweepers and five accounts to a 21-sweeper, 200 properties cleaned per night operation. And, they've added a host of other services on the way to becoming a force for event cleanup in their Washington, DC, area. Read the story. We will be changing our featured contractor about once per month. If you'd like your company to be considered for this honor, please let us know.

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This website relies on industry-wide support. The good news is the information we supply can be unquestionably independent. The downside is we must have the support of the sweeping community at large to keep WorldSweeper.com up-to-date and online.

Because of the relatively small size of the sweeping industry, we need financial support from all areas of sweeping: manufacturers, contractors and the other vendors and suppliers of power sweeping equipment. If you like what you see and value the site, please support it via the low cost enhanced listings in our Contractor Locator and Browse Sweeping Products sections.

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"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.