Jefferson City and the Attack of the Garbage Cans

I decided to start this blog four days after the city council meeting (November 2nd). So let me begin with a brief summary: The Jefferson City Council signed a contract with Allied Waste to pick up the garbage. Before the contract, residents had a choice in their garbage delivery: they could opt out, use a bag system, or subscribe to the service. The service included twice a week pickup with two ninety-five gallon garbage cans. The new contracted service no longer allows any resident to opt out, delivery is now only once a week, the cans are sixty-five gallons (so we lose fifty gallons of volume) and one of the cans is designated for recycling only--but no glass. The new service is also more expensive,

I come to this controversy late in the game because even though I have maintained a presence in Jefferson City, I did not live here until I moved down two months ago. Nonetheless, I do not like the new system. Mandatory does not go well with me, the way the garbage cans are stacked up and down the streets does not go well with me, the way some cans are already overflowing because of the once a week delivery schedule does not go well with me, the hardship for many residents who cannot afford a mandatory pickup (and I need to let you know every unit in every apartment and every home has to have a garbage can for the residents living there--you are not allowed to share garbage cans) does not go well with me.

I've asked around and I understand that even though this process has been ongoing for the last two years, few residents even knew anything about it.

I understand why. At the council meeting I spoke twice--once about the garbage can problem and again about a moratorium on new sidewalk construction. I would never have known about the sidewalk issue--what town does not want sidewalks?-- if I hadn't attended the meeting. Obviously the word did not get out.