View From A City Garbage Truck

During the last year, or so, I have been heading up the neighborhood litter-abatement program that we call Adopt YOUR Block - Be a Litter-Gitter. I have observed close-up the job that the City of Huntington's sanitation workers do as they collect household garbage on their weekly routes. These workers should receive a publicly presented special commendation from Huntington's Mayor and the Huntington City Council. These employees have thankless jobs, and I for one admire each and every man and woman who works in the City of Huntington Sanitation Department! My hat is off to them!

I have been shocked to see some of the horrible situations they come upon, as they make their rounds of city residences. Frankly, I am stunned that these loyal public employees just don't jump off of the trucks and refuse to pick up the terrible messes they come upon. The filth and helter-skelter garbage thrown out on our streets and alleys by many residents of Huntington is disgraceful! (and, horror-of-horrors, it is spread all over our neighborhoods by animals, wind and rain.)

Do these residents, who fail to properly place their household trash out for collection, have no decency? Would they want to have to touch and collect the scattered trash, garbage and filth that they themselves put out each week?

We have city ordinances that dictate that all household garbage be placed in plastic bags and tied up; then placed in rodent-free/water-tight trash containers. But many residents don't seem to care that they are the guilty party for the mess that is left after the garbage, that can be collectible, is placed on the sanitation truck. The workers don't have time to clean up the remaining mess, and they shouldn't have to!

If I were King of Huntington, I would require that the workers on each truck record the address of each residence they observe to be in violation of the pertinent City of Huntington Codified Ordinance (Article 951 - Refuse Collection), and report it to their supervisor at the end of each run. The ordinance requires a ten-day warning be given, before a citation is issued by the City of Huntington's Compliance Officer. The penalty for this violation is a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) and/or up to thirty-days (30-days) in jail. The sanitation supervisor would be required to forward this list to the compliance officer, who would move immediately to inform each violator of the consequences of their actions.

I say, let the fines and jail time begin! Why is this ordinance not being enforced. Litter shames every person living within our city! We've got to get this issue resolved!

What do you think?