New Baltimore City Trash Cans (Green Goblins) (Mayo: appointed, how much)

[Woodlands]

So....I got my new Baltimore City Trash Can...the default 65 gallon one.. I get that it is supposed to reduce rats and blowing trash and what not.. but I have to point out a few unintended consequences of this new "gift" from the City.


As I rode through an unnamed section of west Baltimore.. I noticed that many folks simply just keep it on the street in front of their stoop...which may be convenient for some to toss their trash in as they run out the door.. or for the average pedestrian to drop something in as they stroll down the block. Visually however; it provides one more piece of street clutter to add to our already cluttered streetscape. I can see the iconic postcards of Baltimore with its formstone or brick rowhouses with marble steps now including an iconic Green Goblin perched next to its owners stoop waiting to be fed. Supposedly this monsters are supposed to go in the alley behind ones home.. but that memo may not have been circulated yet. Even so.. it will be interesting to see these trucks navigate these already tight alleys with a Goblin perched in it.. The average Baltimore City Sanitation Engineer will have their wits tested as they try to figure out how to empty and/or hoist these monsters into the truck then over your back fence(as has been reported) so the truck can continue to roll down the alley> I don't see them rolling them all to the end and then loading the truck nor whenever the city orders the "new" trucks with side loaders with the claw.. if they will be able to grasp them in such narrow spaces either.


I guess we will have to see and learn to adjust.. this is Baltimore for God's Sake..and we have lived through worse.....Its nice to have a First World problem for a change....

[Woodlands]

Speaking of Sanitation Engineer....I recall that part of the goal was to reduce the number of SEs on a truck and those individuals that didn't have to ride on the truck could be dispatched to other duties such as cleaning alleys, roadways/gutters, and those hundred of 311 Service Request that get "Closed" or "No Violation" found responses though the complainant can look out the window and clearly see that nothing was done....


My Fifth Grade Teacher used to say to me.. " if you don't get your grades up.. you are going to end up being a Garbage Man !!!!" I have to say that in Baltimore .. that is probably one of the most important positions in City Government and one that EVERY Citizen of the City has to utilize or come in contact with at one point or another...Hopefully the next Mayor and presumably the next head of the "Garbage Men" will come to realize that this position/role is an important piece of the City infrastructure and work to make sure that they in fact realize how important they are to the City....Would make for a nice episode of Undercover Boss.. though we may uncover more than we want to know based on some of the recent news reports about drug deals, murder, gambling rings and related issues that have surfaced in that world... SMH

[640TAG]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

I guess we will have to see and learn to adjust.. this is Baltimore for God's Sake..and we have lived through worse.....Its nice to have a First World problem for a change....

Had to smile reading this. In the borough I lived in previous to my current, the council provided very similar bins to the new Baltimore greenies (we call them "wheelie bins"). This was in Walthamstow, an area with predominantly narrow streets of rowhouses, although most do have a tiny front "yard" (you have to go to really old parts of the East End, or further up north to find straight-onto-the-street houses like I grew up in, and are the norm in Baltimore). And yes, the general view is of a green blob outside every house.

Ours was a particularly narrow (and quite busy) street (one-way) and on trash collection day (once a week - unlike many here, which are now once-a-fortnight, can you imagine?) it was a mad scramble to get out the house and into the car before the garbage truck slowly crept its way down. If you were caught behind, it was very slow progress as the operatives struggled with the bins over walls, down steps, and waited whilst the hydraulic lift emptied them, two at a time.

You have foresight, I can confirm

Contrasts with where I am now. Council provides 2 recycling boxes, but we have to provide the bins (2 x standard round size per house only). All trash must be bagged before putting in the bin. The guys treat it like a workout schedule. One comes ahead of the truck, takes the bags out of the bins and makes a pile every dozen or so houses. The truck follows, and the piles of bags are volleyed into the back. I reckon they do a street of 100 houses in about 4 minutes! We don't have quite the rat problem you do, but the foxes just love the loose-lid bins.

[DistantSun]

I got mine last week, too. I'm disappointed they don't "snap" shut as our primary issue around here is raccoons rather than rats and they can easily open these. I had to buy a bungee cord to seal it.

[ialmostforgot]

Originally Posted by 640TAG

Had to smile reading this. In the borough I lived in previous to my current, the council provided very similar bins to the new Baltimore greenies (we call them "wheelie bins"). This was in Walthamstow, an area with predominantly narrow streets of rowhouses, although most do have a tiny front "yard" (you have to go to really old parts of the East End, or further up north to find straight-onto-the-street houses like I grew up in, and are the norm in Baltimore). And yes, the general view is of a green blob outside every house.

Ours was a particularly narrow (and quite busy) street (one-way) and on trash collection day (once a week - unlike many here, which are now once-a-fortnight, can you imagine?) it was a mad scramble to get out the house and into the car before the garbage truck slowly crept its way down. If you were caught behind, it was very slow progress as the operatives struggled with the bins over walls, down steps, and waited whilst the hydraulic lift emptied them, two at a time.

You have foresight, I can confirm

Contrasts with where I am now. Council provides 2 recycling boxes, but we have to provide the bins (2 x standard round size per house only). All trash must be bagged before putting in the bin. The guys treat it like a workout schedule. One comes ahead of the truck, takes the bags out of the bins and makes a pile every dozen or so houses. The truck follows, and the piles of bags are volleyed into the back. I reckon they do a street of 100 houses in about 4 minutes! We don't have quite the rat problem you do, but the foxes just love the loose-lid bins.

Wow!
Where is trash collected once a fortnight? It seems to be mostly each week in this area.

[640TAG]

Originally Posted by ialmostforgot

Wow!
Where is trash collected once a fortnight? It seems to be mostly each week in this area.

Err, I'm talking UK!!

Many councils now only collect fortnightly. They claim it's made people much more careful about how much they throw out. I can't imagine any American putting up with that!

My London borough still does weekly (plus weekly recycling), but their budget is so under pressure I can see it going fortnightly before long. We'll have to start taking the Moet & Chandon empties to the bottle bank

[Woodlands]

And so it begins.. I saw a guy with a backpack on that looked homeless (cant guarantee that he was) pulling a green trash can down underneath 83 near the fallsway....I guess BPD will uses that tracking device to find it and arrest the individual that took it? Fallsway is near the BPD Jail.. so it should be a short trip...


I can envision Baltimore becoming 'Grouchmore' as people turn stolen cans into forms of shelter....