Trash, Traffic Jams, Maggots and City Services

[Jim O'Bryan]

I agree. All workers get legitimate breaks. But if a sanitation worker is in his truckat the time (what else is he supposed to do?) it looks like he's loafing.

Let's deep six THAT idea. The paparazzi should follow Mr. O to Cheesecake Factory instead!! I hear if you catch him, he picks up the tab!

Joan

On top of that is another important fact. They are on completely different time schedules. When I leave for work at 6am, they are in my back yard collecting trash. When I get to work, Dan from the city is cleaning up "monkey island" for another day of monkey shines. I am still not at work 30 minutes later when he is through, just sipping coffee.

I have no idea how long their breaks are, or when they get them. If it is in their contract, they deserve it. Contracts are made to be honored, honestly, and in the spirit they were signed.

However as Bill Call has pointed out the raises for these workers might kill us. It would be interesting to see if a new compromise could be achieved that made everything workable for the long term.

Items that could help in negotiations
Everyone agree to a cut until...
Cost of living made up with community currency and food securities.
(An excellent example of how these programs work together.)
Foreclosure's offered to Police, Fire and School teachers with 0% loans.
An overall ease of the work load. 8 workers on a job instead of 6. The eight get paid what the 6 did. Work load eased, help a brother or sister out, and keep the boat afloat.
Offered stock in a city/civic owned business, like privatizing recycling and let city workers get shares in the company. Just an example.

Which leads me to think...

When a city department is "privatized" shouldn't residents have first shot at owning the company that provides our services?


Cheesecake? Joan the reason I always speak of The Cheesecake Factory is I do not eat cheesecake. No one in my family can understand why. I love everything that goes in cheesecake, but together I can't swallow it, never could. For me cheesecake is a visual image I can motivate with. I just do not see me walking into anything called a Cheesecake Factory. Would rather hit the Ice Cream Assembly Line or the Donut Plant. Frozen Yogurt is another thing I am mystified over, it is so much better with custard.



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[Ken Lipka]

Please do not let a few people turn this issue into something ridiculous. My garbage is collected every week with no problems. A few times a year they miss our cans and a simple phone call brings a truck out to pick up our trash that day. They come into my backyard and haul my daughters dirty diapers away every week! If they want to stretch their breaks at BK to eat another whopper I have no problem with that. I am pretty sure they aren't skipping entire blocks on a weekly basis to take longer breaks/lunch hours. The Carl Monday/Channel 19 following people around style of reporting makes me ill and should not be tolerated in this city. This style simply takes one big mouth and a camera asking ridiculous questions while shoving a microphone in your face. By the way how many of you are reading this while you are clocked in at work? Just wondering.

[Jeff Endress]

I meant the Carl Monday more tongue in cheek than anything else.....having said that, we do need to face the fact that there will be union contracts coming into negotiation soon. The city also has very limited resources. The real inquiry is one of efficiency and economy. Are the current work rules such that there is the ability to do less with more. Are there changes which are justified and appropriate to get more in line with doing more with less? Frankly, I don't know, because I have absolutely no facts, and only anecdotes.

Jeff

[Ken Lipka]

I think efficiency definitely needs to be looked at. If a crew finishes their route an hour early one day is it possible to send them over to clean up the broken glass at the Park Row park? Or is this not going to happen because they are separate departments.

[DougHuntingdon]

ok you caught me - I just took 4 minutes to read messages on here. I will deduct that from my time card. I will also add 5 extra minutes since I came into work 5 minutes early. If I don't get paid the net extra minute, I will sue my employer--I know there are good attorneys in Lakewood.

Personally, I just put my trash into a chute down the hall and then it goes away. So, I say they do a great job!!!!!!!

Seriously, there doesn't seem much we can do to become more efficient. The city seems to be strongly resisting CitiStat, etc. With any city, not just Lakewood, you have different motivations than you have in the private sector. Yes, I realize many private sector employers or employees are not incredibly efficient, either. Absent monopolies, oligopolies, and some other possible scenarios, though, at least the private sector gets punished when they are inefficient, ultimately being driven out of business, if it gets bad enough.

Doug

[Stan Austin]

Jeff-- and the other posters--

I attended most of the budget hearings including the one which dealt with the refuse department.

You posed the question "are they doing more with less" and the simple answer is yes. The manager of that division has, through attrition, eliminated positions. He has consolidated routes to make the pick ups more efficient. And, they continue to actively promote and add to the recycling by including the Gold Coast area.

While I know it's trendy or even macho in some situations to criticize the city workers there are a large number of Lakewood folks who genuinely appreciate the work they do. A resident reportedly wanted to host a picnic dinner for "her" crew because of the good job she knew they were doing.

On a personal level there have been instances where I have called the Refuse Dept on my behalf or as a favor for others. As you might expect, I could very easily pull the "I am a friend of .... card." But I don't and haven't. The response is always quick and friendly.

Finally, it isn't like these guys are "sneaking" breaks. You can't hide 5 Cushmans or 3 garbage trucks in front of Taco Bell!!!!!!! They're there. It's their break. How 'bout we give 'em a break, too.

Stan Austin

[Jim O'Bryan]

The city seems to be strongly resisting CitiStat, etc.

Doug


For the record Citistat meetings are in full swing. I know the Waste Water treatment is working hard with them.


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[DougHuntingdon]

That's great news! That is the first news I have seen that something is actually being done with CitiStat. I realize the implementation of something like CitiStat is not instantaneous across all departments, etc. It takes awhile to be properly worked in.

Doug

[Bill Call]

For the record Citistat meetings are in full swing. I know the Waste Water treatment is working hard with them.

That is good to know. I was just getting ready to write a post about the City's "Vapourstat" program.

[Jay Foran]

In 1973 and while on summer break from college I had the good fortune of working as a refuse engineer on the West and NW ends of Lakewood. Still, all these years later, the best job I have ever had!

These were the days when cans were metal (and rusted out on the bottom), the plastic garbage bag had not been invented (talk about maggots) and the Cushman was just a vision (garbage was hand-carted via a plastic tub from backyard to street). Small and mid-size apartments didn't have private pick-up in those days either.

Pushing the garbage with a broom into holes (about 4 x 4 in size) above the blast furnace at the Lakewood incinerator was always a tad interesting, especially when a 3-5 lb. furry friend came surfacing out of the stacked garbage. Slap shot corner pocket!!!

I learned to drink that summer. Many residents used to stick a cold 6 or 12 pack of beer on inordinately large piles on the tree lawn or as motivation to look the other way on items that weren't supposed to be included with the pick-up. Trouble was it was against regulations to bring beer to the incinerator, thus there was a lot of consumption taking place between the last pick-up point and the Lakewood incinerator. Chug a chug chug. It was important to not belch as you tumbled out of the truck upon arrival.

I definitely drew the ire of my full-time workmates as I moved from the middle seat in the back cab to shotgun in the air-conditioned front cab within a two week period. Seems the driver had a rule about seating seniority. Miss a day...move to the back. To this day, it takes alot for me to miss a day of work.

It was also fun to greet some of my high school friends parents as I huffed and puffed up and down the driveway. I typically had a good lather going and adorned in various food groups. Brought more than one down and frown stare from the parents.

Sorry to hear that today's workers aren't having fun. Converging at Caribou for coffee....c'mon guys you can do better.

[Stan Austin]

Jay--- Isn't it a marvel of human nature how summer jobs, now, seem so idyllic and fabulous?!

My glamorous jobs included just as much that GREAT FUN as the twice a day summer practices!

And afterwords, the beer sure tasted good. I remember Slim's Locker Room (now The Last Stand) which had Stroh's on tap, and air conditioning.

For my afternoon shift job it was Morlack's at W.150th and Brookpark. We added to the Lakewood legend by closing the bar at 2:30, buying beer for the parking lot, and opening it at 5:30.

With all that hard work, Jay, why does it hurt so much now when we do the "easy jobs"?

Stan