Why Is City Hall Playing Social Engineering Over Garbage?!?

[Corey Rossen]

Anybody remember when we had TWO garbage pickups a week - in our back yards?? In those days we were pulling carpeting, wallpaper, etc. out of our first house and filling the side of the garage twice a week - and the city took it all away.

We could have that again, at a cost. Are you willing to pay the premium?

[Bridget Conant]

We could have that again, at a cost. Are you willing to pay the premium?

Actually, I WOULD pay a little more to go back to once a week backyard pickup. In fact, considering we didn't save much, if anything, by going to the new system, I contend we SHOULD go back.

The streets look awful with those barrels out, they blow over when it's windy and contents are strewn all down the street, the cans become street obstacles when blown into the street, in all, they look TRASHY. They aren't easy to maneuver and for a small person like me, lifting a trash bag up and into the can is often a challenge.

Lots of people leave them out days after the pickup date and they make a lot of noise rolling down my driveway, which my 20-something neighbors think is OK to do at midnight when they get home.

Overall, I'd gladly pay a bit more to go back.

[Kate McCarthy]

I prefer the new garbage system. Since I compost and recycle my garbage can has very little in it and in the winter, I don't even have to drag it out every week since it's pretty empty. And since we have cars parked in the driveway we always had to drag our garbage out front anyway. And the bags of recycling that were put out on the treelawns were always blowing around in the street. I have a lot less litter in my yard post garbage day than I used to.

Personally, in terms of quality of life issues, I would prefer the city put extra resources in going after the slum lords in our city, particularly those that throw the entire contents of an apartment on the treelawn and have it sit out there for a week.

[Lori Allen _]

Personally, in terms of quality of life issues, I would prefer the city put extra resources in going after the slum lords in our city, particularly those that throw the entire contents of an apartment on the treelawn and have it sit out there for a week.

Kate,

Great point. Thanks for also taking notice of this. Unfortunately, it seems that very few (including our elected officials such as mayor and council) in this city care enough to do anything about it. If you were looking to rent/buy a house in Lakewood and you keep seeing mattresses, sofas, carpeting, and overflowing trash cans out days before garbage day, what would you think? This is a bigger deal than some think and it can really decrease desirability and property values. The reason I post the videos of this stuff is not to degrade anything, but to hopefully motivate the elected officials responsible into doing something about it. I do not expect a utopia, but it is ridiculous when I cannot drive five minutes without seeing a mattress, toilet, sofa, or other junk out way before garbage day.