Lakewood: Trash

[Lori Allen _]

The Mayor or Director of Public Safety, and any officer or employee designated for that purpose by the Mayor or Director of Public Safety are hereby charged with the enforcement of this Sanitary Code. (Ord. 59-08. Passed 7-21-08.)

The sanitary code includes long grass and early trash set-outs. So, under the law, Summers himself could be enforcing the law, no? He must drive from place to place to conduct city business at least sometimes. Could we issue him a ticket book to write in? Couldn't he or his secretaries mail out fines or notices when not otherwise busy? If he can appoint anyone he wants to enforce this code, couldn't he deputize some other city workers to also do it?

Just saying that the law could be stretched a bit to allow others to enforce the law so the burden is not put on a handful of workers. Also, if the radio system worked properly, other city workers could radio refuse when they notice this stuff in their travels.

[Missy Limkemann]

I woke up this morning to find someone's trash on my tree lawn. A pile of moving boxes. What do you do when people put their crap on your tree lawn? I seriously am this close to electrifying my entire yard and sidewalk and tree lawn.

[Lori Allen _]

First, I would call the police and make a report. Second, I would call the refuse department and tell them that it is not your trash so you don't get fined for having it out early/late.

If they put their cans on your tree lawn, you can give the refuse department the number on the can and they can trace it to the address that said cans belong to.

[Missy Limkemann]

its the apartment people. what they do is block our driveway or park so close to the apron we can barely get out. we set our garbage cans on the street next to our apron as instructed to do, and the people move them so they can park and then block our cans and then we either get a ticket, they won't pick up our garbage or both. i refuse to drag my cans across the street because some idiot needed to park his car blocking me in and my cans.
we have sent letters to the building management, we have had the city send letters the building management, we have had police go there. it still never ends

[Lori Allen _]

Time for a weekly update!



In all seriousness, there is so much of this now that the garbage people cannot keep up with it. I think I have even seen them out mowing lawns. This leads me to believe that we have a bigger problem on our hands. This did not happen overnight.

Can't Summers cough up some money to give some people seasonal work? What about the prisoners?

The posts will continue until Summers does something. It is his responsibility. It says so right in the city charter.

[cmager]

Summers clearly is not operating the city.

[Missy Limkemann]

and again i had people move my cans so they can park their car. which the rule is 3 feet from the apron...this car is right against my apron and my cans were moved to completely block my apron. thankfully i did not have to leave early this morning.

[Lori Allen _]

C,

Agreed.

Missy,

Apparently, one resident on Marlowe by Madison was having a similar issue. Evidently, the city would not put up a "do not block drive" sign. So, the homeowner evidently nailed a "private drive, do not block" sign ordered from the internet to the empty sign post in front of their home.

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[jackie f taylor]

Mail delivery persons walk the hood every day, they see everything going on, can't they be enticed to notify the responsible person at city hall to cite the violators? Apartments, they should be forced to have private trash removal service instead of piling there trash out for everyone else to see.

[Lori Allen _]

There is so much trash laying out in Ward 4 that it must be put under its own post.



The garbage people cannot keep up with this. There is no way that anyone could.

This means one thing: it is high time to re-evaluate what we are doing to alleviate the problem. Roughly 80% of these properties are rentals. Maybe it is time to start cracking the whip on these absentee landlords. A few fines or court appearances should do the trick.

I would like to return to the days of Tony Sinagra. Long grass? Two days tops to mow it or you get fined.

As the expression goes: "time to get tough".

[Lori Allen _]

Thought: If it is $100 fine for a first offense, wouldn't it almost be worth it to hire an extra person or someone to work on weekends to collect this stuff? It seems like it would pay for itself.

[Lori Allen _]

Summers' new idea of community development: curbside stargazing stations on Belle. Hurry though! It will only be here until next Wednesday! We could even attach a meter to drop quarters in for donations!

In all seriousness, hats off to the low-quality resident that put this out. I'm sure your neighbors will appreciate looking at it for five days!

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[Lori Allen _]

We can only expect an increase in this. From what I have been told and what I have heard, Summers and/or Joe Beno have instituted a new policy. Garbage workers must now go back two and three times to pick up the garbage at the houses where Summers' friends, CCF, and LHA people live because they could not be bothered to have it out on time, even though they have a 12-hour window to put it out.

[jackie f taylor]

The City of Lakewood, should consider creating a law where discarded furniture, appliances, mattresses be brought to the Lakewood Recycling property for disposal. Not on our tree lawns, and if you don't have a way to transport your junk, then pay the city of Lakewood to come out to your property and pick it up. Tenants move out and leave their junk behind, the owner has to clean it out, fine, have the refuse department come get their junk and deduct that charge from their deposit. You can charge for your time & labor to clean up a place and you deduct the fee for refuse pickup from the deposit. Problem solved.

The city went thru all the effort & cost to give us recycling & trash cans, and they look civil, orderly, now if we could only stop the trashing of our tree lawns.

[Lori Allen _]

Just wanted to say thanks to The Gorilla and Dimit Architects for putting their garbage out early for the second week in a row:

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And also a big thanks to The Root for almost completely blocking the sidewalk with all of their stuff last week. They have been doing this for years and they never get fined.

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If anyone from any of these businesses see this, please obey the refuse regulations and be a good neighbor. If the residents of Lakewood give you business, you owe it to the residents to respect the neighborhood by obeying the law and keeping things clean.

1777.02 RULES AND REGULATIONS.
(a) The Director of Public Safety or his or her designee shall adopt rules and regulations consistent with this chapter and any other ordinance of the City of Lakewood for the collection and placement of trash and debris in a manner that will promote efficiency and the protection of the quality of neighboring properties. Such rules and regulations shall be on file in the office of the Clerk of Council.

1777.01 REFUSE OR DEBRIS REMOVAL.
(a) The owner, occupant or person having the charge or management of any lot or parcel of land situated within the City, whether the same be improved or unimproved, vacant or occupied, shall not permit refuse or debris to be placed on the tree lawn for collection prior to 6:00 p.m. on the evening before regular refuse collection for that property.