Summer Street Sweepers a Possibility in JP

Jamaica Plain could see the return of “hokeys” this summer.

Jullieanne Doherty, mayor’s office liaison for Jamaica Plain, said at a Jamaica Plain Business and Professional Association meeting Wednesday that street sweepers – humans, (not machines), known colloquially as “hokeys” –  will be deployed by the city’s department of public works throughout Boston’s neighborhoods this summer.

The hokeys will not be assigned to specific neighborhoods, but instead will operate on a schedule which will rotate them from neighborhood to neighborhood including West Roxbury, Roslindale, Dorchester and others, Doherty said.

The number of street sweepers, along with the possible addition of BigBelly solar trash containers along Centre Street, is dependent on city funding, Doherty said.

The business community is in the process of figuring out ways to clean up litter along Centre Street, Jamaica Plain’s primary business district.