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WEEK 25 - DAY 3

Well, well well.

I looked out my window this morning and my yard waste bags (along with those photographed yesterday - see below) had been picked up ... sometime between 9:30 PM and 8 AM.

Don't know who picked them up ... either the contractor, or a city employee. The city, by the way, has been picking up all medical exemption recyclables since the contractor started in April because it wasn't in the contract, and has been doing a host (if not most) of the callbacks.

Coincidence?
 
Or does the City get its daily dose of reality by reading this website?



Maybe the City is ready for a yard sign at the Municipal Building!



If you want your yard bags removed, send me a picture along with the street name ... I'll publish it so the city knows where to find them.

WEEK 25 - DAY 2

Now I'm REALLY confused.

Here are two pictures taken this morning (Tuesday).

This first one is of my street (a Monday pickup). According to the City's website, the contractor was supposed to be picking up yard waste bags and bundles on our regular day (which should have been yesterday) ... without stickers needed.  Hmmm ... guess not.



This second one is of the City crews picking up debris ... notice that they're also picking up the bundles and everything NOT in bags.



So ... here's my question ...

Why did I bother to go out and buy yard bags, take the time to shove all my debris in them, and set them out when I could have just raked all the debris to the curb and the city crews would have picked it up anyways?

Thank you, city crews!

Update:  Oops!  The rules of the game have changed yet again ... Now, the City says that the bags and bundles will be picked up on Friday and Saturday because the contractor is "resuming regular solid waste collection" during regular collection days.
Hmmm ... what happened to all of the contractor crews from Atlanta, Akron, and Lexington that were supposed to be coming in FOR FREE to pick up debris?


 WEEK 25 - DAY 1

In other news, I got a call from a landscape contractor yesterday afternoon.  He had been called in by his customers to clean up their yards littered with trees and debris from the storm last Sunday.  Given all that needed to be done (after all, the Governor declared it to be an "emergency,") he was working on Sunday to clean up yards and haul stuff away.

Well ... apparently someone called the UA Police because there is an ordinance that no activity generating excessive noise can be done on Sunday, so they escorted him out of the city.

Here's the article from the Dispatch in which the incident is reported ...



If they're referring to C.O. 517.15, I don't see "lawnmowers" or "blowers" listed as being prohibited.  As a matter of fact, they are specifically excluded from the ordinance!  If lawnmowers were prohibited, then residents wouldn't be allowed to take care of their lawns on Sunday! 

Just what is going on here?   Isn't it in everyone's best interest to have all of this stuff cleaned up as quickly as possible?  Between recyclables all over the streets and tree branches bursting from every curb, not only does our city look horrible, but it is presenting a hazard for motorists.

I hold City administration and Council responsible for this.  They easily could have clarified that yard cleanup work, including that done by contractors, was OK to be done on Sundays until all trees and debris had been removed.

But they didn't. 

So ... what does this have to do with "trash?"

Well ... there's also an ordinance, C.O. 351.35, that expressly prohibits persons from riding on the outside of moving vehicles.  This is also a statute in the Ohio Revised Code, and garbage trucks, even emergency vehicles are not exempted from this rule.

Each and every day, the contractor's workers are in violation of that ordinance.  They hang off of the back of the packers throughout the whole day.  And yet, City administration turns a blind eye to it.

Why is this important?  Because no less than two police reports have been filed in which the "hanging" workers have claimed to have been hit by passing motorists.

And back in May, a resident reported in a letter to Council that inappropriate driving by one of the contractor's personnel nearly caused one of the "hanging" workers to be crushed.

This practice is dangerous, and there is a reason why such an rule exists. 

Why have City administration and Council let this go on for 6 months now, knowing the potential danger lurking in its practice?  If someone does get severely hurt or killed, they should be held responsible for such an occurrence.  They knew about both the rule and the attendant dangers if a violation of that rule were to occur, and yet they did nothing about it.

So ... we're all over a landscaper who is doing yard cleanup on a Sunday after a major storm, and not addressing a true danger in the solid waste contractor's common practice of hanging off of trucks, week after week?

I'm confused. 

YARD SIGNS are in! 

If you want one (or more) or lost yours in the storm,
contact Mike (554-5607, uatrash@aol.com) to get them!



We're leaving this up because it clearly compares the two services.


 
After studying it,
YOU decide which one you want for the next 5 years.