Columbus can handle a color coded trash schedule…so why can’t Toledo?
One noticeable difference between Columbus’s Color Calendar system and ours is it does not appear that trash collectors get the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve day off of work in Columbus. That’s a mere two days though, and for some reason residents of Columbus have been able to follow this without it being some major drama. They’ve actually done this in Columbus since 1984, to save overtime costs that Toledo has paid for decades for holiday trash pick up. Change isn’t easy though and here in Toledo, people have strong emotions about their trash collection as evidenced by this FOX Toledo piece.
Living in South Toledo, yes going ten days between trash pick up can be a challenge, especially for those who don’t recycle as much as they could but isn’t it preferable to overtime costs? We have the new automated system here and even with the additional time span, it wasn’t a problem. So, twice a year, always in the winter, as long as city employees get the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve off of work, this will happen. That minor inconvenience is, in my opinion, an acceptable trade off to save overtime costs, I’ve heard rumors that the new Bell administration is considering scraping the “LEAP Forward Plan” — I hope not, while costs will be less once the collection system in Toledo is fully automated, keeping overtime down during the current economic climate creates dollars available for other general fund needs.
This additional report from WTOL demonstrates why I was concerned about the text-messaging law in Toledo, we clearly have quite a few residents who don’t pay attention for there to be that much confusion over the holiday trash schedule…
Admittedly, I’ve only been a home owner in Toledo since March of 2008. Maybe I’m not as set in my ways as others, but I don’t have any problems with the LEAP Forward Plan. I mean, the minor inconvenience of me having to look at the calendar on my refrigerator to remember my trash day is really not that big of a deal when compared to the cost savings.
I don’t really mind the automated trash pickup either. It just went into effect for my neighborhood this week. We put the bins out, they took them, no problems. So we have to pull the bin a little further to place it on the otherside of our tree so the automated arms can come down and grab it. So what?
Really, aren’t there bigger things in this world to complain about than the city actually trying to save money? Don’t we bleed enough money in this town as is?
December 30th, 2009 at 8:38 amI agree…the way trash is collected is fine for now. I think they should revisit giving the days around the holiday off, I think that’s a lil much. But at the end of the day, as long as the trash is taken, a lil inconvience is fine.
It’s difficult to get folks who are use to 1 way of doing things to accept a new way, but time, money and reality have to come into play at some point. The public must get use to the new system and make arrangements to deal with it and the city employees are going to have to accept less in terms of perks and days off. Everyone is gonna have to adjust.
December 30th, 2009 at 8:44 amI don’t have a problem with the LEAP Forward Plan.
It’s way better than the plan that Carty had a couple years back to totally eliminate trash pick up on holidays. It was my pick up that was skipped on the 4th of July that year and we had to live with people’s garbage on the curb for an extra week, because once it’s out it’s just left there, during the summer.
People in Toledo just like to complain.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:34 pmI don’t know about you guys, but I rather enjoyed the times when the sanatation removal specialists had an advance team which would retrieve the sanatation containers from your accessable area in your yard and set them at the curb for you….
December 30th, 2009 at 8:34 pmI suppose its better to have to wait 10 days between pickups in the winter vs. the summer.
I couldn’t imagine having trash pick up skipped at 4th of July in that typical heat/humidity. We forgot to put our trash out once this summer – ugh, it never happened again!
December 30th, 2009 at 11:56 pm