[RP TownTalk] Litter Pickup

Mon Aug 26 21:51:24 UTC 2013

Dotsie, first of all many thanks to you, and Dell, and anyone else who
takes the time to pick up litter on our streets!  You raise some
interesting points in your post.  I'm wondering if you, or any other
TownTalkers who have a better memory than I do, can say whether the
post-trash pickup littering is worse now, with Bates, than it was when the
town ran its own trash collection?  I certainly do notice that there is,
sometimes, some litter left in our block after trash pickup, but whether
it's worse now than it used to be or not, I honestly cannot say.

There is a phenomenon that has been observed in the US where municipalities
and school districts are now, in some cases, "insourcing" their service
contracts - this is a reversal of "outsourcing", which is what Riverdale
Park did when we moved the job of trash collection to a private contractor.
 In the cases where "insourcing" has taken place the reasons most often
cited are a) expected cost savings didn't materialize and b) difficulty in
administering the contract and maintaining quality standards.  In these
cases, cities, towns and school districts found that doing it themselves
proved to be either less costly or of higher standards, or both.

I'd be curious to know if people think the current quality of our trash
service under Bates is any worse, better or more-or-less the same as it was
when our Public Works Dept provided the service directly?

On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 5:26 PM, Dotsie <rowdee at gmail.com> wrote:

> I, too, just want to respond to the litter issue, not the Dept of
> Corrections.
>
> I pick up litter all the time when I'm walking the dog and it astounds me
> what people just seem to drop. There is little that those of us who are
> responsible can do about the irresponsible, however, except provide an
> example.
>
> What I have trouble with is the contribution that Bates makes to the
> litter issue. I have seen trash fall out of the cans as they are putting it
> in their truck and they don't take the time to deal with it as it lays in
> the street.
>
> Last week, I came home to trash and garbage sitting next to my empty trash
> can. I guess a bag broke when Bates was picking up my trash, but I find it
> irresponsible of them not to clean it up. There were ants all over the
> sizable pile by the time I got home and picked it up. It would not have
> been a big deal if they had just scooped it up (they do wear gloves) at the
> time.
>
> Anyway, for those of us who care about our neighborhood and environment,
> let's just keep doing what we can do personally. Thanks to those that do.
>
> Dotsie
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 2:12 PM, tazimax <tazimax at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> I agree wholeheartedly about the litter issue. I live behind the
>> McDonalds on rt. 1 and between the alley between us and the parking lots at
>> Suntrust and the Jamal building, I end up with trash piled against my
>> fence, in my yard and on the street. Nobody cleans the alley unless I
>> mention it to McDonald's (when they built it they agreed to keep it clean).
>> Suntrust  barely ever cleans up. Jamals building isn't too bad about
>> cleaning up during the week,  but the weekend gets bad. Food trash leads to
>> rats and none of us want that. Its a shame that even with businesses, no
>> one cares anymore.
>> Carol DePrato-Miller
>>
>>
>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
>>
>>
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: Beth Judy <bethjudy4 at gmail.com>
>> Date: 08/20/2013 9:33 AM (GMT-05:00)
>> To: Sue Collins <wheadle at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: towntalk at riverdale-park.org
>> Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Litter Pickup
>>
>>
>> HI,
>> My posting is a little off topic - I don't want to comment on whether or
>> not the Dept of Corrections should pick up the litter in Riverdale.
>>
>> I do, however want to comment on litter in Riverdale Park. When I walk my
>> dog, I see a *lot* of litter around town. Even litter right next to the
>> trash cans. I'm really grateful to Del for doing his part to pick up.  I've
>> joined in too and clean up the public spaces. I'm not comfortable walking
>> into someones yard.
>>
>> Any ideas on how we can encourage our citizens to keep Riverdale Park
>> beautiful and litter-free? I know some of the litter is generated from pass
>> through traffic.And the streets seem especially littered after
>> trash/recyling day - some of the paper doesn't make it into the truck.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Beth
>> Sheridan Street
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 7:58 AM, Sue Collins <wheadle at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  Possibly not; however, even though I don't have children myself, I'd
>>> prefer not to take the chance. Anyhow, if someone hasn't been paying their
>>> traffic fines or they're guilty of "failure to appear," that would indicate
>>> to me that while they might not be in the same category as an ax murderer,
>>> they're still not exactly candidates for "citizen of the year."  JMO, of
>>> course.
>>>
>>>   *From:* Lou King <lking at knob.com>
>>> *To:*
>>> *Cc:* "towntalk at riverdale-park.org" <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
>>> *Sent:* Saturday, August 17, 2013 5:52 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: [RP TownTalk] Litter Pickup
>>>
>>> No James I did not miss, what I guessed was your point. I do strongly
>>> disagree with the perceived danger.
>>>
>>> In this day and age, if I understand correctly, work details like litter
>>> pickup are a coveted perk, as apposed to the "39 links of chain around
>>> my leg" era of the old south where the work gang was a part of the
>>> definition of "years at hard labor." I remember in the '60s when
>>> traveling, seeing chain gangs with guards holding shotguns and rifles.
>>> That was a different thing.
>>>
>>> We have evolved.  Volunteering for such "outside" work details by
>>> selected, non-violent, offenders counts as good behavior and may shorten
>>> their sentence, thus it is a desired assignment, not life threatening.
>>> To say nothing the emotional lift from not being "inside."
>>>
>>> Although I agree the though process of someone being held by the
>>> Department of Corrections may be questioned, do you really think someone
>>> with a sentence counted in days in a County facility, for not paying
>>> traffic fines or "failure to appear" would risk years in a State or
>>> Federal facility by even talking to a child?
>>>
>>> Lou
>>> O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop HTML mail - www.asciiribbon.org
>>>
>>>
>>> James D. Holmes wrote, On 8/17/2013 12:08 PM:
>>> > Lou
>>> >
>>> > You are missing the point.
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>>
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>
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