the Controversial Committee Report
“We don’t raise sacred cows...we just butcher them.”
"Trash and Sympathy"
Well, dear readers, it appears the time has arrived to once again ‘trash’ the mayor, city council and city administration.
Almost like Johnson grass, there seems to be no end to those folks sprouting the same potential proposals, which have been determined by a majority of citizens, to be unwarranted, unnecessary, stinky, and, in this case, counter to the current processes for residential trash collection desires and services.
Yes, the ugly, bulky, trash bin container proposal, which could ultimately affect all future residential customers, is soon coming to a city council agenda in a potential cloud of compacted deception.
And much like the recent chicken fricassee-fiasco-ordinance, the detailed planning, rollout and implementation, of this travesty of administrative resumé padding, was shrouded in closed meetings, very limited and nearly nonexistent public discussion, babbling disclaimers and spin by proponents as to how the proposal would be "cost effective" and "save" money down the road as new and highly expensive garbage trucks roll to the city’s landfill dump site. Garbage!
Where is the financial data to support those claims which could ultimately double the effort and probable cost for citizens to process their garbage?
Apparently, a blatant bureaucracy could mask this new trash bin container proposal in the 2016-17 city budget (in August?) where it might go unnoticed. This ruse would allow for the trash bin containers to be instituted in only NEW neighborhoods.
(Who will be defining NEW for this proposal? Could NEW relate to developments already under construction? Have potential developers been notified of what is afoot in their developments?)
How long after only NEW developments are forced to utilize the trash bin containers will it be before the aroma of the camel’s nose is under the tent as the bureaucracy dictates ALL residential customers must now comply and use the trash bin container receptacles?
Certainly, citizens must realize it wouldn’t take long before the NEW usage in residential developments is shifted to foster the same shameless trash bin container proposal on the rest of the residential population!
Is this methodology, of administrative slight-of-hand, considered to be open and honest with tax payers? Why isn’t the trash bin container proposal placed before citizens in a public forum — similar to the chicken ordinance — for genuine consideration of what tax payers want and determine is in their best interest? Shouldn’t the adoption of such a significant process be placed before the public in ordinance form?
The Lazarus Trash Ordinance (LTO) first rose from the landfill of bureaucratic blathering around 2010. At that time, a select neighborhood in the city was chosen to "test" the use of these bulky, heavy to cart, and unsightly trash bin refuse containers. And like cities which do use this expensive method of trash collection, the observable results in Irving were: residents didn’t like the containers; the containers were difficult to manage..especially by elderly citizens; and most containers were not retrieved from the curbside in a timely manner thus causing the neighborhood to appear trashy and unkept for days.
Other factors which scored high on the negative use of the trash bin containers in Irving was having to store them from out of sight of the street. This meant they had to be in the garage or back yard…not even the side of the house. (Note: There are many homes in Irving which do not have garages.)
One might think the above factors alone, with the outpouring of Irving citizens opposed to the process of switching to trash bin container collection, would have finally put a stake in the heart of this ill advised proposal. Well, refuse breath, think again.
The bumbling bureaucracy never gives up thinking they know what is best for citizens…even when citizens tell them with loud voices the current method of trash collection works just fine and to just leave it alone.
The only thing stronger than the stench of rotting garbage could be the will and determination of a bureaucracy whose intent is to impose, implement and foster their personal agenda against the will of the populace in an effort to sate egocentric desires. (Otherwise, known as resumé padding.)
And this again seems to be the case with the trash bin container proposal now being sent forward for council consideration!
Dylan Westie, Executive editor/Part-time wordsmith and Social Media Troll for the CCR, would advise all readers — especially elderly home owners who will have to tote those humongous containers a great distance to their curb — to contact the individuals responsible for perpetrating and perpetuating the trash bin container proposal on residents — NEW or old.
Only through petitions or loud voices will the message, once again, reach those who hold the responsibility for this travesty of bureaucratic bumbling…your elected officials.
And when you hear the folks responsible for the Lazarus Trash Ordinance resurrecting the issue and spouting "cost savings" and "efficiency" for trash pick-up services, feel free to snicker loudly and, in unison, yell Torofeca!
Finally, the Return On Investment (RIO) for this calamity of bureaucratic meddling will not be witnessed in ones lifetime. And one could almost guarantee trash collection services will immediately experience gradual or significant increases to offset the proposed capital expenditures for new trash bin container garbage trucks and the stockpiling of trash bin containers…and this also includes the need for recycle trash bin container models which will have to be included as part of the process.
(How much does one of the new trash bin container trucks cost, and how many would be required to service the city? What will be done with the city’s current stockpile of garbage trucks? How much will the trash bin containers cost citizens?)
And to perpetrate this shift, to the trash bin container method of garbage collection by the bureaucracy, citizens will witness another "test" of the system for NEW developments only. Odds are the administration has already prepared a report on how "successful" this test was and the time is ripe to impose the same hardships on the rest of the residential tax payers.
The following is the contact information to register your trashy concerns. Don’t delay. Time is pressing. Take action now, or suffer the odoriferous consequences later as you lug your overweight, bulky, and difficult to manage and control trash bin container to the curb.
Beth Van Duyne
(972) 898-7500 2017
bvanduyne@cityofirving.org
Oscar Ward
(469) 704-8479 2017
Brad LaMorgese
(214) 460-1990 2018
blamorgese@cityofirving.org
Kyle Taylor
(214) 288-2308 2019
ktaylor@cityofirving.org
Phil Riddle
(469) 781-7176 2018
David Palmer
(214) 557-8406 2018
John Danish
(972) 554-5060 2019
Allan Meagher
(972) 313-0909 2019
Dennis Webb
(214) 490-9749 2017
Chris Hillman, City Manager
(972) 721-2600
Brenda Haney, Solid Waste Management
(972) 721-8059
……………………………………….…Mark Holbrook
Publisher’s Note: Staff of the CCR (Dylan Westie, Mark Holbrook and Mike Howard) would like to extend a personal thanks to all those who read, forward, comment and take an active part in the Irving political processes via the CCR. The Internet blog site for the CCR just registered 100,036 page views as of July 24, 2016. The above CCR report starts our venture to attain the next milestone of 200,000 page views. Thanks guys…and gals! MH
