CCAgenda_04Apr14 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

• FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -16- March 24, 2004 Refuse Collection -Public Hearing on Resolution of Intent (continued) Barbara Leary, 1382 West Iowa, said that she has been a resident for 35 years and is a member of the Solid Waste Commission. She believes the City can collectively negotiate a better contract than on an individual basis. She lives in the Northome Addition where the alleys are an extension of the backyards. Her children played there and now 18 children play in the alley. Three years ago she paid $1,595 or $29/linear foot for a complete rebuild of the alley. One truck is the equivalent of 157 cars. She has asked everyone on their block to utilize one hauler. Up to five garbage trucks go down her alley. Alley corners are a bit torn up and huge boulders don't correct that problem. She knows that City streets are built to a higher standard than alleys. Residents should have some control over traffic in the street and alleys. She and her neighbors have tried. David Wark, 1588 Northrop, said that individual choice is a good thing. There is a lot of information that he doesn't have. What kind of leverage do individuals have? He would like information made available to the residents. Chuck Wegner, representative for BFI, said that he was a small individual hauler himself once. People in the audience can relate to the small haulers. The small haulers are not fearful about competing against one another. They are fearful about competing against government. Manley Olson, 1974 West Summer, said that he has been a resident for almost 35 years. One of the things that he thought was that this meeting was part of a process of deciding what to do, not a decision making process. What he is hearing people say is that because most of the people who came to this meeting are against it, they should make the decision for the City Council. His understanding of representative government is that it is the function of a Council to hear proposals, weigh information, to do study and to follow through. This is complex information. He could probably use 2-3 minutes on each of several items, but we don't have time for that. But that is part of the process so he would urge the Council to continue with this process. The Council has gotten a lot of good information here. They have gotten a lot of resources here; there are probably a lot of things that people can follow up with in terms of getting information. As he was sitting here tonight, he didn't feel comfortable saying this is it. There is one item of concern to him. The biggest disturber of the peace is garbage trucks, and not because we have more haulers in the area, but because the technology has changed. The trucks have automatic arms that go out so the truck goes down the street and then comes back down the other side. The trucks are basically making two trips to accomplish the same thing. So, we have twice as much traffic as we had a few years ago when the technology was different. We now have 3-4-5 haulers covering an area. Time is money. They may have one stop at each end of the block so they are probably going faster in between. He sees some problems. He also understands the concerns about streets. Streets are a big ticket item in terms of the budget of this City. /L