INC NEWS - Solid Waste Budget Takes Hit

[RW Pickle]

Don't quote me on any of this because it is all second hand info (but
maybe someone from Solid Waste could verify it), but here's the scoop on
where the plans for Solid Waste ended up.

Out is the regular weekly bulky item pickups. This to me was a hidden
agenda by the City anyway. The whole thought behind the bulky item trucks
were to get us out of a bind next time we had a Fran blow through town.
Last time it happened the City spent more than $8M with contractors
because it didn't have the equipment. So now at least we have the
equipment, but no one to operate it. That's fine. When and if we need them
because of a Fran type incident, the whole City will be paralyzed anyway
and there will plenty of people to operate the equipment who are already
on payroll. I saw the bulky item trucks and manpower as an emergency
management tool anyway. That's really why they were acquired. It just
ended up in the Solid Waste budget. Not that it's a bad idea (we all know
we have alot of trash piled up in this town), but we already have a
limited bulky item service and perhaps that will continue (maybe Solid
Waste can confirm this as well).

Looks like the city-wide yard waste program will roll out across town and
it also looks like there will finally be a Solid Waste Code Enforcement
position funded (although only for 3/4 of the current budget cycle;
starting in Oct.). But that'll give Solid Waste time to define what the
duties of this person will be. We all know that one person will hardly
make a dent in it all. But it's a positive start.

Any more news as it relates to this will have to come from someone else.
This is all I know.

RWP
27 Beverly