Friday, August 1, 2008

Garbage Cans GALORE!

We have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating since no one at City Hall or in the Department of Public Works seems to care: Garbage cans belong upright and on the curb.

It is a simple enough philosophy, right? On garbage collection days, garbage cans and recycling containers belong upright and on the curb. What is so wrong about that?

Residents are expected to put their cans out after 6:00 PM the night before garbage collection. The cans are to be placed at the curb, lids on, presumably in their upright position, in such a manner that their contents are properly contained therein until such a time as the garbage truck arrives to empty them.

For the most part, citizens comply with the intent, if not necessarily the letter, of the rule.

Enter the Department of Public Works Sanitation Division.

Once the properly placed can has been emptied by the DPW crew all bets are off and our simple philosophy breaks down.

Upon emptying the cans, the DPW crews toss, throw, fling, chuck, slide, hurl, bowl, pitch, heave, lob and otherwise cast aside the cans and containers aside, along and across every street, avenue, boulevard, lane, place, road and right of way in the fair city--but seldomly upright and on the curb.

Nothing is more fun than driving down our city streets taking evasive maneuvers in a slalom of tossed and overturned garbage cans all for want of our DPW staff not caring about the way the city looks.

Which, therefore, begs the question: if the Department of Public Works doesn't care how the city looks, why the hell should anyone else?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol soooooooooooooo true - don't even get me started on tickets for putting your bulk out on the wrong night- the cops take pics and all- court date is required too

Anonymous said...

I put my bulk out one morning before the trucks did my street and it wasnt picked up. When I called DPW I was told that the reason it was not picked up was that the rules state that if it is not put out after 6 PM the night before, they are not required to pick it up.

I told her, "But the trucks hadn't come yet, I watched them drive by my house leaving my stuff on the curb."

The secretary answered, "Sir, that is because you have to put it out the night before. If you put it out in the morning the trucks may have already done your street."

I replied, "But Ma'am, the bulk was out BEFORE the trucks did my street, how would they know when I put it out?"

The reply? "Well a supervisor checks that."

So apparently, the Department of Public Works has a guy whose job involves certifying when garbage is put out for compliance to city regulations.

Anonymous said...

We can go on and on, but except for the oceanfront the city is a mess. The main culprit is loose bags of garbage on the curb that blow all over and bulk garbage out at all times, especially near apartments. And yes the street looks much worse after the garbage men come, I tip everyone but them. LB should have bulk pick up by appt only, and garabge must be in a can.

Anonymous said...

This is so true. They just throw the cans in the middle of the street. Someone commented on bulk garbage. I wish they would ticket the people on my street. They constantly have bulk garbage on the sidewalks or their front lawn for more than a week. Rules of garbage pickup and bulk should be given to all renters and clearly stated, thats where most of the problems come from sorry to say. There are new people almost every month in a nearby house, matresses every other week on the front lawn. NO one cares, I call and nothing is ever done.

Can we get on other topics too???
Like how Long Branch has so many South Carolina and Penn. residents. I love the work vans with out of state plates and local cell phones or Long Branch printed on them. Gotta love it!!!