Last week the Common Council voted to approve new sanitation regulations regarding garbage pick-up and recycling. The new regulations are available from the Public Works Department. They state that cans must be removed from curbside within 24 hours of pick-up. Unfortunately the regulations don't say how far the cans should be moved from the curb. Other communities insist that cans be removed from the front of houses, and be out of sight from the street.
Several tenants and landlords simply move the cans directly across the sidewalk and store them in front of the house. Some have created "garbage can blinds" with fencing or hedges in their front yards.
Still others, like these Wesleyan-owned residences have not removed the cans, despite complaints, from the curbs for two semesters.
Which proves that words on paper don't solve the problem. There has to be a will in the Public Works department to solve the problem. Public works director William Russo vowed at that council meeting to make the curbside cans go away, but it hasn't happened yet.
If the can is left there for several days, the sanitation department should just take it away.
ReplyDeletemadamnirvana
I would also like to see something done about the unsightly garbage left on Main Street. Isn't there a better way to address this--it's embarrassing to take out-of-town friends out to dinner at a nice restaurant on Main Street only to have to pass by piles of garbage.
ReplyDeleteEd, thanks for posting this again. I know it is huge problem. I called and emailed Mr. Russo on Monday morning with a complaint about 25 trash cans out just within the boundaries of the Downtown Village District (DVD) where I live. I saw at least another 25 outside of the DVD. I hope others will join us in calling Mr. Russo's office as often as warranted until this 24/7 mess and danger of brown blight garbage containers are cleared from all of our sidewalks and parkways throughout the city where this problem exists. I agree we also need an ordinance that keeps property owners from storing these cans in their front yards along the sidewalk edge.
ReplyDeleteIf the situation does not get better, I for one will be speaking at another common council meeting about the problem, with a record of emails, phone calls, and photographs in hand.