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“Outstanding service. They were extremely careful delivering the extra large container into our driveway.” -- A. L. GARNER
This is not just an illegal dumping problem. This is a cleanliness problem,” said Councilmember Desley Brooks at last week’s Public Works Committee meeting.“We need to look comprehensively at this,” she said. “We’ve been doing the same thing. I think it’s absolutely necessary that we try something different.”“We’re starting to have increasing problems with rats,” said Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.Councilmember Abel Guillén said efforts to stop illegal dumping must be expanded to involve all city departments.“I think it’s an emergency,” he said. “There are no consequences right now (for illegal dumping). I can’t remember anyone ever being fined.”City work orders for removing illegally dumped trash, based on complaints filed by local residents, grew from 14,083 in 2011-2012 to 29,370 in 2015-2016 – a 100 percent increase in the last five years, including an 18 percent growth in the past year, according to a staff report submitted at last week’s Public Works Committee.“Illegal dumping … is a pox on our community. It is prevalent, and it is ubiquitous across the city,” said Susan Kattchee, assistant director of the Department of Facilities & Environment.A map included in the staff report shows dumping sites in the city stretch from the Berkeley to San L... (oaklandpost.org)
Mayor and Oakland Board of Supervisors members Desley Brooks and Noel Gallo who also attended the meeting.The director of public works said the goal of the new crew will be to respond to illegal dumping complaints and focus proactively on dumping hot spots.City officials say they want to hear residents' ideas for solving the problems. The city is also pursuing a federal grant to double the number of cameras from 4 to 8 and get funding to staff stakeouts at dumping hot spots so police can arrest suspects immediately."The idea about stakeouts, the idea around lien…DMV, your permit for your car, you can't get your car unless you paid your citations and fines, that's an idea that came from this community," said Mayor Schaaf.City officials say the illegal dumping fine is up to $1,000 a day. The typical citation is $3,000, but many people simply ignore the fines.A KTVU 2 Investigates segment in November found the city had received about 20,000 complaints in a 12-month period, but issued only 65 citations.The mayor says she hopes to hear any ideas residents might have for solving the dumping problem.Residents hope more people will volunteer for the clean-up crews and hope the city will follow through on taking more action. (Story | KTVU - KTVU San Francisco)
StoreThe city says it will be working with Salter about how to establish a "no trespassing" procedure so that police can enforce it. Michelle Brooks of the City of Tulsa said the City's Working In Neighborhoods Department can look into issues like this and provide information that could be helpful to business owners and the community.Learn more about Tulsa's Working In Neighborhoods (WIN)... (News On 6)
BROOKSVILLE — A unanimous County Commission on Tuesday approved a seven-year extension to the garbage-collection contract with Republic Services, an agreement that will bring higher prices, county-provided garbage cans and automated trucks to lift and mechanically dump cans.Related News/ArchiveCommissioners said they liked the idea of the automated system and the uniformity of trash cans to clean up neighborhoods and make it clearer to the trash collection crews which homes had the garbage service.The county's current contract with Republic expires in December 2018. The new service will start when the current pact ends but officials have not yet worked out details of the timing.The approval came after commissioners listened to complaints from several residents of the Ridge Manor area who have had ongoing problems with trash pick up. The company's municipal services manager, Seth Weightman, told commissioners that they had personnel issues on that route and the driver involved was no lo... (Tampabay.com (blog))
Assessment that compared the health and environmental merits of sending 200,000 tons of garbage per year to Covanta's waste-to-energy incinerator in Brooks, north of Salem, versus burying it in a landfill. The report found few health or environmental concerns from either option, though many critics remain skeptical. One of the biggest unanswered questions: the heath impacts of burning medical waste, plastics and other materials, releasing dioxins and other toxins into the air, plus ultrafine particulate matter that is so small that when inhaled it goes directly into humans' bloodstream. But Metro's staff recommendation came down to a simple cost-benefit analysis. "Landfills are always going to be the least expensive options," Ray said. Landfilling costs about $25 per ton, Ray said, and burning garbage in Brooks was estimated to cost $60 to $80 per ton. If Metro pays $60 per ton to send garbage to Brooks, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality senior policy analyst David Alloway calculated, it would by paying $35 per ton more to reduce carbon emissions by .345 ton. That translates to spending $101.45 to eliminate 1 ton of greenhouse gas, he said. That's not an "outrageous" price, Alloway said. Even still, he remarked, "It's a pretty expensive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." Some would presume that garbage burning, which produces more renewable energy, would score much higher on environmental factors, particularly carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and global warming.Rotting garbage in landfills emits a significant amount of methane, which is at least 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Furthermore, trucking waste so far from Portland — the drive to Arlington is about a five-hour round trip — produces significant diesel exhaust and other carbon emissions. However, one of two models cited in HDR Engineering's study actually found that burying the garbage in a landfill would produce fewer carbon emissions. That's because landfills, comparable to forests, store significant amounts of carbon rather than emit it into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. State analysts concluded there are far better ways to spend money to achieve better results for addressing climate change in a 2014 study. "There's a pretty significant cost premium to send garbage to Brooks instead of sending it to the landfill," noted Angus Duncan, chairman of the Oregon Global Warming Commission. The state commission has recommended that Oregon seek the most cost-effective and least-disruptive ways first. Right now, Duncan said, the commission is focused on helping Oregon utilities shift away from coal and natural gas to zero-emission solar and wind power, and to reduce emissions from transportation.img src="http://cni.pmgnews.com/images/artimg/00003583820195.jpg" alt="TRIBUNE PHOT... (Pamplin Media Group)
