Sylvia Joseph wouldn't let it go, even when Newark sent her a letter to dismiss a $45 parking ticket.

Joseph, a city resident, knew a mistake had been made by the Newark Parking Authority on Sept. 20. She said there weren't any "no parking" signs posted for street-sweeping that day, when she parked her car on North 13th Street between Fourth and Park avenues.

What she didn't know then is that the ticket shouldn't have been written in the first place. The street, according to the city clerk's office, is not listed to be cleaned in the city's municipal street-sweeping ordinances, which the parking authority uses as a guide to write tickets.

"Wow,'' Joseph said. "Looks like I opened a can of worms."

Here's how one lady's persistence has led to an outcome that can lead to consistent street-cleaning.

Joseph, 60, is a 26-year breast cancer survivor who doesn't give up easily. While she has the patience to drive a school bus for 35 years, Joseph was upset to see the ticket on her windshield when she returned from her route in Jersey City. This wasn't just a case of signage missing from the pole. There weren't any poles.

Confused by the ticket, Joseph went to the city's Division of Traffic and Signals on the same day and explained the absence of signage.

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Benjamin Ramos, chief of Traffic Signals Maintenance and Operations, confirmed Joseph's complaint after an inspection was done the same day. He wrote a letter for Joseph to take to Municipal Court, recommending the ticket be dismissed. The court did so when she returned with the letter on Oct. 18.

Still, Joseph wasn't satisfied. She had asked the court during her initial appearance on Sept. 27 how are people to know that they should not park on that street if there isn't any signage. The answer, like getting the ticket, didn't make sense: She said she was told by the court that the city didn't have to post the street sign to be in violation of it.

That explanation didn't sound right to Ramos, either, because he said federal law requires signs to be installed. West Ward Councilman Joseph McCallum thought it was odd, too, so he checked with City Clerk Ken Louis, who said people are indeed liable for tickets even if the sign is not posted.

Based on that information, McCallum told Joseph that she would unfortunately have to pay the ticket.

Most people would just pay the $45 ticket and keep it moving. Not Joseph. "When you say something to me, I want to see it," she said.

Afterward, she received the letter from Traffic and Signal, and had a conversation with me after the ticket was finally dismissed. Joseph, however, still wanted to see something in writing that said the city doesn't have to post the street sign.

Louis couldn't find anything in municipal ordinances when I asked him about it last week.

Without such a law on the books, Louis discovered that the street where Joseph received the ticket was not listed under the street sweeping ordinance to be cleaned.

"She was parked there legally,'' Louis said.

Only two sections of North 13th Street, from Davenport to Third Avenue and from Third Avenue to Springdale Avenue, are listed to be cleaned. That means she shouldn't have been written a ticket.

Anthony Mack, executive director of the parking authority, said his agency has a 99 percent accuracy rate issuing tickets. He's glad Joseph's ticket was dismissed, since it was written in error.

"The parking authority can only enforce pursuant to an ordinance,'' Mack said. Moving forward, he said, the agency won't write tickets on that street until the city includes it in the street sweeping ordinance.

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The city's Office of Communication checked with the Sanitation Department, and its manager, Kim Greene, to see if that street is cleaned. He told the Office of Communication that every street in the city is cleaned.

If so, residents there say it's few and far between.

Kenneth Davoren, a resident for eight years, said he rarely sees a street sweeper. Maybe once a month.

"You never know when they're going to come,'' he said.

His neighbor, Martin Quinones, a resident since May, hasn't seen one yet.

"They never clean here,'' he said.

Both men agree on one thing: The street does need cleaning. Illegal dumpers leave garbage and debris at the end of their block closer to Park Avenue.

Like Joseph, they were surprised to know the street is not listed to be cleaned when they've seen cars get ticketed and towed.

Davoren hasn't been towed, but he has been ticketed in the last three weeks. Hopefully, he'll get his ticket dismissed, too.

And the absence of signs there? The city installed "no parking" signage on the street last Friday.

Barry Carter: (973) 836-4925 or bcarter@starledger.com or

nj.com/carter or follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL