Picking up the garbage
My magazine column next month is about garbage -- the changes that begin March 1 and what they might mean to how residents see the city. Because, as I learned a long time ago, the only thing that really motivates voters is whether their garbage gets picked up.
Turns out this is going to be an even bigger story than I thought. City councilwoman Angela Hunt notes that parts of Lakewood and East Dallas will switch from alley to curb pickup, which should no doubt irritate quite a few people. Including me, since I'm apparently part of the affected group. It was nice of the city to let me know. How long would my garbage have sat in the alley before I figured it out?
You can download this map to see if you're affected (though it's not easy to read -- I think that if your street has a dot, you need to move the cans.) And Hunt's colleague, Lakewood's Sheffie Kadane, is already taking some heat about the change. Turns out some of the alleys in our neighborhoods aren't wide enough for the new trucks the city bought to do once-a-week-pickup.
- Posted by Jeff Siegel on Feb 9, 2010 at 08:01 AM in City Hall, Siegel, Advocate Mag, Lakewood - E Dallas
- Comments (15)
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"...the only thing that really motivates voters is whether their garbage gets picked up."
Have to disagree. Citizens will put up with alot of problems including poor garage colleciton, poor schools, corrupt politicians, and high taxes.
The re-election of Mayor John Lindsay in 1969 proves my point - in the wake of a transit strike, sanitation strike, broadway stike, devastating snow storms, teachers union strike, corporate flight, rising crime rate, white flight, and general economic decline, Lindsay was re-elected Mayor to a second term, despite being booted off the Republican Party ticket (he won running as the Liberal Party candidate).
But in 1979, Mayor Michael Bilandic of Chicago -- the last Machine mayor -- was throttled by an unknown named Jane Byrne because there were several huge snowstorms, the alleys didn't get plowed, and the garbage didn't get picked up.
I would also note that New York, for all its fiscal woes, still picks up the garbage two to three times a week, one of the last major cities in the country to do so. (I learned quite a bit researching my garbage story.)
Yeah...but Bilandic was eventually rewarded with a lifetime appointment to the Illinois Supreme Court.
And NYC couldn't possibly cutback pick up...people don't have ths space for storage (50 gallon garabage cans on wheels) like we do.......
and about 50% of the estimated garabage in NYC is actually handled thru private contrctors serving the high rise office and residential towers.....pick up at these locations is typically once a week.
Picture of NYC street - 1968.
http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/nyc/story_preview/2010/01/06/garbage_piles_up_in_manhattan_reminiscent_of_the_g.jpg
While you two are debating the Chicago experience, I'd like to confine my whining to Dallas. The alley behind my house was just completely rebuilt a couple of years ago — nice cement alley, seems pretty wide — but I'm on the green-dot list of people having to move our pickup to the curb. I can live with that (although I don't want to), but it doesn't make much sense to me — why rebuild the alley if not for garbage truck use? There are quite a few dollars that could have been spent more effectively.
Now that our neighborhoods have these beautifuly re-built alley ways; it would be a shame to run heavy commercial garabage trucks up and down them, destroying their utility and shortening their useful life....Garbage trucks can be very destructive to the enviroment...moving collection to the street (from alley) will enhance these beautiful re-built areas making them wonderful walking trails.....all kinds of wildlife can be found in these oasis, and more will flourish when trucks and garabage are elminated from them....
I look forward to the re-brith of alleyways.
Nothing says "World Class City!" like piles of garbage in the streets.
Besides picking up the garbage I would add bulk trash pickup to what motivates the average Dallas resident
Jeff,
I received a notice from the city last week that included a note about the move from alley to curb.
However, this doesn't impact me as we already do curb pick up. The city widened and repaved the alley behind our house about 10 years ago and at that time it ceased to be used for garbage pickup.
If I had my way, I would keep twice-a-week pickup during the hot summer months (when garbage tends to smell the worst) and move to one-a-week pickup for the rest of the year.
i like my alley pickup and once a week is fine for our house hold but then there are only 2 of us but if we had 4 there might be a problem but then again i had a recycle can and it worked well for my neighbor for 2 years . recycle more and there will be less trash . if you have more trash talk to your next door neighbor .
I'm ok with what the city is doing. It seems a terrible waste of manpower to have three man crews dealing with my trash when one truck and one man can do the job.
Dallas' new once a week trash & recycling pickup is a great motivational tool for every household to recycle at least part of their household waste. Taking things a step further, a simple compost bin (made from a few feet of chicken wire fashioned into a column) will handle clippings,leaves and various yard waste. A small vermicomposting bin (located inside or outside your house) will consume suprisingly large quantities of kitchen waste.
I have been wheeling my trash to the street curb for years and it has neither embarrased nor killed me... Yet.
We have a narrow street, already hard to get down, that we have to park our car on... how is the automated trash truck supposed to get up and down once we all have our trash out there? They'll still have to use manual pickup... It doesn't make any sense.
I live in the part of East Dallas that is affected. The first I learned of the change was a letter from the sanitation department 2 weeks ago.
I support once a week pickup for both garbage and recycling. I have 4 bags of recycleables for every one bag of garbage.
My issue is that I live on a corner, with my driveway and alley access off the side street. Pickup has been from the alley.
Now, to get my garbage picked up, they tell me I must trundle a 96-gal garbage cart, and a 96-gal recycle cart from my garage, down half a block on the side street, then down another 15 feet or so, and then finally get both carts up on the front parkway or curb for pickup.
I have a dislocated disc in my back and cannot do this procedure. I contacted the Sanitation Dept and Angela Hunt's office and went to the meeting at Audelia Library, trying to get someone to talk to me.
A woman from the Sanitation Dept finally called and came to my house, but told me the only option was to use "Help Me", which would let me put my garbage bags on the front porch for the men to pick up.
But I needed a letter from my doctor to be approved. She said she would email me an address to send the letter, and would send another woman out to do the rest of the paperwork with me, which must be signed by me.
Well, I have the letter from my doctor, but no one from the Sanitation Dept ever followed up.
From the folks at the Audelia Library meeting, I'm not the only senior citizen or person with limited ability to handle the large carts who is hopping mad about this change.
One woman even said there was no way for her carts to be moved down to the front curb as there are no sidewalks, and
the driveways are in the back. She asked if she was supposed to trundle the cart across her lawn!
It is nearly noon on my new trash pick up day. No sign of trucks. I'm supposed to be on the helping hand list so I put my trash bags on the little walk in front of my window.
Went out at 6:40 AM to drag the bags to the little walk. Being anxious, by now I have dragged them halfway down the yard.
No way I could have used the huge city thingys since my steep driveway would have launched me across the street all the way to South Padre hobbling along on my knee braces and hunched by my back brace!
My blue bag of recyclables is neatly dragged to the parkway.
Prior to THE BIG DAY, I emailed the city 3 times, received enthusiastic emails back but no application for helping hand. However then I called twice and even got a personal visit from a city collections person. Still no application. Got the doctor's office to send a letter telling about my inability to use the city big thingys. Still no application, however got another phone call stating I'm definitely going to have my garbage picked up on Thursdays as planned right on my little walkway in front of my humble abode.
It is now nearly noon, and no garbage trucks. I'm so tempted to drag the bags onto the CURB! But NO, By St. Flexible (the patron Saint of garbage bags) I'm waiting.