More on trash and holidays

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

To recap:
* Yesterday was a municipal holiday in Somerville which supposedly means that trash pickup is delayed by one day for the entire week.
* However, some people reported that their trash was picked up yesterday, per the usual (non-holiday) schedule.
* Yesterday afternoon I posted in this community saying that I had received email from the city confirming that yesterday's trash pickup was in error and that pickups would indeed be delayed this week.
* But this morning orbitalmechanic posted in a comment on the aforementioned post, saying that her trash was picked up today, on the usual (non-holiday) schedule.

I've just had another email exchange with Sean Murphy, Director of "Constituent Services" for the city. He now tells me that the trash vendor does go around the regular-day streets, after picking up on the holiday schedule, and collects any trash that was erroneously put out by people who didn't know/remember about the holiday. They do this to reduce clutter and so forth. So, in other words, on a Tuesday of a holiday week, they would collect the Monday streets first (per holiday schedule) and then drive around the Tuesday streets just to get whatever is out; and then they would do the Tuesday streets again on Wednesday, per holiday schedule. Clear as mud?

In any case, Mr. Murphy asked me my opinion of this, whether I think it makes sense to do it this way. So I put it to you as well. What do you think?

Personally I can see both sides. The city is in a bit of a bind here: if they delay the pickups, there will always be at least a few people who forget or don't realize it's a holiday, so we wind up with trash sitting out for a whole extra day. But if they pick up on a Tuesday street on Tuesday, all the residents who thought they were supposed to put trash out on Wednesday get confused (and potentially angry). Then those people are likely to not put their trash out at all, and be angry all over again when the truck comes again on Wednesday!

Thoughts?

BTW, you can email Sean Murphy yourself if you like: smurphy@ci.somerville.ma.us

Sorry to take up so much of your friends-list with trash talk ;)

Comments

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

I really think sticking with holidays that other people get off is the only good solution. There are enough people without land lines that there's no way to avoid the confusion - especially since the recycling trucks did NOT pick up yesterday, on my Monday-route street. (My non-land-line downstairs neighbors had taken their recycling back in and only put it back out when I explained the situation.) But for real holidays like Labor Day, if you forget it's your own fault.

If the point is to give the trash guys the day off, then give them the day off - coming by on a holiday is too confusing, and if a few people leave their trash out for 24 hours, it's a small price to pay. If they come by on the normal day anyway, what was the point of giving them the day off?

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what land lines have to do with it. Anyone can sign up for the robocalls, using any phone number they choose.

I kind of agree with your other point about giving the trash guys the day off, but I don't think that's really the purpose of these minor holidays. Trash collectors aren't city employees; they're employed by the contracted company. Then again, I'm not really claiming that I understand the purpose of the minor holidays....

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Anyone can, but not everyone does. However, I get the robocalls even though I didn't sign up, I assume because I have a land-line.

And if the trash guys aren't city employees, then why delay trash pickup? OK, I see above that there's some kinds of trash that are picked up by city employees - but it all still seems ridiculous.

(One friend I was discussing it with suggested that perhaps the trash collectors get overtime pay for working on Monday. Which would mean that we just get to pay extra _and_ be confused.)