Week 5 (May 5-9)
Click a button below for other news.
Week 5 ... Day 5
Uh oh ... it rained yesterday ...
So ... how did we do?
If Arlington had a two digit lottery number 41 would be the number to play. That is the number of streets that were neglected to pick up bottles and cans and papers, or just papers.
Streets missed Bottles and Cans and Paper
'Nuff said ... Can't wait 'till it snows!
------------
Week 5 ... Day 4
Two pieces of news.
First, progress (or lack thereof) on criminal background checks.
On April 21, background checks on the contractor's employees were requested from the City (see Week 3 News). Repeated requests for the background checks have been made over the course of the last two weeks (click on the image to see the emails).
The net result is that the city has absolutely NO ability to verify whether criminal background checks (or drug/alcohol testing, for that matter) are being conducted by the contractor on its employees.
And seemingly, the city has no desire to press the point.
Many residents have expressed that this is a real concern. For those of us with medical exemptions or premium service, the contractor's employees are coming up to our back doors without any assurance that background checks having been done. Why? Because there is nothing in the contract that provides for any oversight by the city regarding background checks.
Here's a recent ad by our contractor that appeared online in Monster Jobs. All that was required to be a driver is CDL, a clear MVR (Motor Vehicle Record), and an ability to read a map.
-------------------
Second, our residents never got our letters.
Prior to the start of new service, residents were told by the City that we were to get two letters from the contractor introducing themselves. As we reported (see "Pre-Start Up"), we never got those letters.
Then after service started, the City told us that we were going to get two letters from the contractor to "reaffirm their commitment to quality." Click here to see what the city said on its website.
Here's my first letter
and my second letter.
(They're both blank
because I never got them.)
Go to the website now (or click here for a printable version). The letters have disappeared.
Week 5 ... Day 3
Finally, our city staff is starting to publically acknowledge the problems that we've been seeing for the last four weeks. In today's UA News article, entitled "Council members express their frustrations with trash hauling," the Assistant City Manager discloses to Council in its May 5 conference session his frustration with the trash situation under the new contract.
This is a far cry from statements he made just two weeks ago, on April 21.
We had hard evidence about his frustrations last week, but did not put it on the website so we could see just how long city staff would continue to provide Council (and residents) with spun information. In an email to the contractor's representatives just one business day before making those comments (April 18), the Assistant City Manager asks the contractor's rep the following question,
"Have we made an error in believing [the contractor]?"
and signs it "Frustrated."
Click the letter below to see for yourself.
Also in the UA News article is a comment by the Assistant City Manager saying that "as the agreed upon grace period runs low, fines for acceptable service -- also previously agreed upon in the contract -- could soon be issued against [the contractor]."
Here we go again ... there is NO grace period in the contract except for one stipulation regarding the collection of missed items. As it turns out, on April 9, the City Manager gave the contractor approval to "operate outside of normal hours of collection through May 2."
Click the picture at left to get a printable version of the relevant portion of the contract.
Click this picture to get a printable version of the exception letter. Note that it only covers hours of operation, NOT the other performance criteria for which fines can be levied.
The city should have been collecting fines from Day 1. Why? Because the amount of city resources that have been devoted to this effort have far exceeded what were envisioned when they embarked on this change. I wouldn't be surprised if we're now at a point where it's costing us more WITH the contractor ... even compared to the garage-side service we used to get with city employees!
Here's a printable version of the UA News article.
Oh ... and the UA Reserve Notes are now GONE from the couch!
I knew someone would find them too tempting.
Week 5 ... Day 2
No new news.
Week 5 ... Day 1
A big news day!
First, if you are near a packer or recycle truck, drive VERY CAREFULLY. Because, even though the city wrote the contractor representative to "remind your collection personnel [that] yellow double lined streets need to be collected curbside," this is not happening. Without hesitation, the collection personnel are hopping off of the back of the trucks and running across double yellow lined streets to the opposite side to collect trash and recyclables.
My husband was taking our daughter to school this morning, and saw this happening on Tremont Road by the Waltham intersection. There is a double yellow that goes for 2 or so houses, then switches to dashed yellow. The collector hopped off the back of the truck and made a dash for the other side without looking. My husband called me from work and said, "Boy, is that guy lucky. If a car had been coming in the opposite direction, he would have been hit."
I saw the same thing that afternoon. I had just picked my son up from school, and was going up Arlington Avenue (another double yellow lined street, this I know because I was on the road ... see the map at left). Luckily, the oncoming car stopped and everyone (by that time two cars in each direction) waited while the collection person hopped off the truck, ran to the opposite side, got the can, came back to the truck, emptied it, ran across the street again, put the can back, ran back across the street to the truck, and hopped on. The license plate number of the truck was Ohio PGG-2071 (or 2021 ... I had a hard time reading from my rear view mirror).
In the past, the buggies served as protection for the solid waste crew. As a driver, you could see them coming because they were so obvious, so you paid attention and slowed or stopped. Now, however, there is no protection -- physical or psychological -- for these guys.
Based on the Tremont Road incident that my husband saw, the criterion of "double yellow" is not adequate. It all has to do with traffic volume, and that's a function of both the specific road and time of day.
Second, there's a couch that has been out for nearly three weeks now with 8 "Upper Arlington Reserve Notes" (that's what I call them, as they're each worth $2.40 in Federal Reserve Notes), ready for pickup.
I'm not going to tell you where it is, because anyone stopping by could pocket an easy $19.20-worth of UA Reserve Notes by taking the stickers off.
Third, as of today, the complaint number (583-5370) has been automatically call forwarded from the old Solid Waste facility to the contractor's office. Up until now, that number was ringing to the city's own Solid Waste office. Now, the only way the city will receive feedback on what's going on out here is if the contractor lets the city know (which, by the way, is stipulated in the contract), but I question whether there's an incentive for them to do this, given that there could be a fine levied by the city as a result of the complaint. It's for this reason that internal quality control simply does not work. That's why independent auditors exist.
If you want to make sure that the city hears your problem, you might want to call BOTH the 583-5370 (which now rings into the contractor directly) AND 583-5040 (the City Manager's office).
Finally, a Roving Reporter reported that yard waste (which was supposed to be picked up on Friday) was still being picked up today. This was confirmed by another Roving Reporter in a conversation with a member of the city manager's office. I'll have to check to see if there's a fine for that in the contract. If there isn't, there probably should be.
