Recycling days II
by Bruce Felps
A gentleman, whose name I didn’t catch, called a bit ago from Dallas Sanitation Services, District 4, recycling division.
He said he’s the supervisor over the district, and he called to address my report. I restated that my recycling here — ergo, the whole street, most likely — did not get collected. He said, “I’m looking at my GPS records from yesterday, and it shows the truck was on your street.”
Well, that’s fine and all, but my eyes showed recyclables still in the bin, which remains uncollected.
OK, then, he said he’d try to dispatch the truck over here today but the weather and such might cause a further delay, so it could be tomorrow until the guys get here.
Bottom line, though, I’m leaving out the bin.
Anyone else in a similar situation? Did you call Sanitation Services? What did they tell you?
September 7, 2010 at 11:36 am
Bruce, the truck was probably full from all my holiday weekend beer bottles. Sorry ’bout that.
September 7, 2010 at 11:54 am
hey, understandable. it’s gonna fill up today (or tomorrow), too.
September 7, 2010 at 12:09 pm
One should not grant the Department of Sanitation of The City of Dallas one iota of slack.
Some two years ago, I noted a Dallas Sanitation truck in the alley behind my house, but paid little attention to it.
I did hear some racing of a diesel engine as well as the clashing of gears and hydraulic pumps surging. Again, I paid little attention and went on with my project.
Some five minutes later, I looked out the rear window and the Sanitation Department truck was still there. Finally, after much gnashing of gears and racing of engines, the truck drove off.
Around five that Friday afternoon, I went out to my alley to complete mowing and edging of the lawn.
It was shocking to see spread entirely across the width of our concrete alley, previously immaculate, a band some eight feet wide of glass shards, ceramic shards, sand-line material saturatged with some toxic-appearing bubbling black liquid. Amid this mess were some smashed batteries.
As it was just after 5 PM on a Friday, I felt it would be difficult to catch a management person at the Sanitation Department, so I called 311 and reported that there was hazardous appearing material which had been left in my alley by a Dallas Sanitation garbage truck.
I later called 911, who denied juridiction and referred me to 311.
I called 311 again, emphasizing the public hazard of the glass and ceramic shards as well as the toxic waste. I emphasized that there were five families within 200 yards who have preschool children, and that some occasionally walked in the alleyway.
Calls left with the Sanitation Department were not returned.
This hazardous material lay out in our alleyway for 96 hours before it was cleaned up. Some of it was removed by a Department of Sanitation employee some 15 hours after my message to 311, but who left the rest of the hazardous material out in the alley for some unexplained reason.
We have a need in the City of Dallas to address those sceanrios in which no blood and guts are lying out on the street and thus clearly warranting the attention of the 911 unit, but which have elements which could likely cause injury or fatalities in certain circumstances.
We need to improve our civility as a an urban center.