Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Trash Talk

At last Wednesday's Legal Committee meeting, Common Council President Don Moore explained that the effort to make dumpster code changes had been abandoned because "the problem is too narrowly based," involving only "a couple of dumpsters in a couple of places."


This is one of those dumpsters, located in Cherry Alley at Second Street, behind the building once known as the "Shrimp Box" now owned by Housing Resources of Columbia County. The picture above shows the dumpster as it was on Saturday, September 4--overflowing with trash.  The picture below shows the dumpster as it appeared this morning.


The dumpster has been emptied, but the bags of trash piled around it were left behind.


Surely the City of Hudson should be able to do something about this, whether it requires a change in the code or simply stricter enforcement of the current code. One course of action might be to force the trash hauler to pick up all the trash not just the trash that's actually in the dumpster. Another course of action might be to require the hauler to provide and the property owner to pay the fees for a larger dumpster when the dumpster they have is chronically filled to overflowing.  

5 comments:

  1. "Stricter enforcment?" How about any enforcement -- it's ridiculous that we tolerate this.

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  2. Yes, my place is 1/2 a block from this mess. There is another one on the other corner that is pretty bad. People also drive down the alley and dump junk all the time, instead of going to the transfer station they dump it behind my place. Last week I also saw a very nice upscale SUV stop by one of these dumpsters and unload about eight big bags of trash into one. Some people are really such just inconsiderate slobs, hard to regulate that.

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  3. Not as hard as you'd think: put a motion-controlled web cam (like hunters use to spot critters -- less than $100 at Dick's Sporting Goods) and have the feed captured by a computer. Then, whenever you notice a "fresh dump" you can review the cam feed, get the license plate and give it to the HPD. (What they do with it -- if anything -- is of course a big question!). But this might help you at least feel like you have some control over the situation and might even give you actual control.

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  4. David Voorhees submitted this comment:

    It is unfortunate that the city council feels that sanitation is not a problem. I live half a block from the dumpster in question, and have seen rats rummaging through the bags. There is also a tremendous problem with skunks as well who live on garbage in Hudson. Perhaps some of the council members should take a course in history and learn how rapidly and unexpectedly disease can spread because of a lack of cleanliness. Their attitude suggests a total lack of concern for the general welfare of the city's population.

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  5. Then there are situations where people simply throw their garbage out their window or into the back yard to rot.

    Code enforcement isn't interested !

    This town is so 'fine crazy' here's a simple way of reaping even more silver.

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