Tell us how you feel about and what you prioritize related to trash collection.
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Please tell us how important each of the following items are related to how you choose a trash hauler on a scale from 1 through 5 (with 1 being least important and 5 being most important)?
No response.Which aspects of customer service are most important to you regarding your garbage collection, on a scale from 1 through 5 (with 1 being least important and 5 being most important)?
No response.Does your alley get plowed?
No response.If Yes, who plows the alley?
No response.If No, please check all that apply. What are the barriers to having the alley plowed?
No response.Please add your additional comments here:
I am opposed to city run trash pickup. I don't want to pay for other people's garbage. By the time I'm done sorting, composting and recycling, what remains in the kitchen garbage bin is minimal. Even though there are sometimes 4 adults living in my home, the garbage we generate is nothing compared to other, often smaller households. Often, it takes us several weeks to fill a grocery bag. Having a city-wide plan, even if it's scaled to account for different amounts of waste generated by different households, encourages people to generate more garbage - or at least, does not encourage people to make the effort to shop environmentally and throw only what can not be salvaged.
I've seen city-wide garbage collection in New York, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, and I am not impressed. When I talk to the man driving the truck by my house, I know he knows that he is directly accountable to me and wants to provide the best service possible to keep me as a customer. With city-wide plans, this does not happen. I've seen trash intentionally strew on the street, left on the curb, and piled up at city hall. In Minneapolis, I've seen indifferent and even irresponsible neighbors, filthy alleyways and garbage collectors with attitude. My city is clean. I want to keep it that way.
When I try to imagine what Saint Paul’s version of city-wide garbage collection would turn out like, I think of all the problems I’ve had over the years with city-wide snow plowing. Although snow plowing is a necessity, I don’t remember a snow event in the past 14 years when either I or my neighbors have NOT been out in the street cleaning up after the plows.
And the logic of parking on the snowy (night plow route) side of the street - and letting the snow plows bank me in - when the other (day plow route) side has been plowed multiple times throughout the night, fails me. I have actually been instructed by (high) city officials to NOT park on the clean side of the street, even though the plows have gone by multiple times throughout the night, because it’s not designated to have been plowed. I should let the plows bank me in and create a rut on the side of my house that I should then call 2-3 days later to have the trucks come back and clean up!
… The inability of the city to fix the plow routes or get the trucks to plow the right side of the street, even though, each year when I call, they say they are working on it and things will improve soon! The illogic of the situation and the bureaucratic stonewalling when I call for information or help! … Why would I want the city to take over garbage collection too?
I'm more a fan of the city-wide recycling plan, but even that has some problems. Talk to serious recycling advocates and they will tell you there is a lot more waste in the “single bin” plan which mixes all types of recycling together to be sorted at the center. We went for a simpler approach to encourage more buy-in, but we are possibly deluding people by claiming that simpler is better. News reports talk of recycling purchasers rejecting deliveries because of cross contamination. Others cite the amount of recycling collected that actually can’t be sorted properly and ends up becoming trash. For those of us who are concerned about the environment, it’s disappointing to find out that our efforts are not always as rewarding as we think.
Snow plowing is a necessity, curb side recycling is a nice convenience, but let me be responsible for my own garbage disposal.
How important is it for you to have your alley plowed for personal vehicle accessibility, trash removal services, emergency service vehicles, and pedestrian mobility (safety) on a scale from 1 through 5 (with 1 being the least important and 5 being the most important)?
No response.