Occupy Portland: You've Met Them

You already know the people who call themselves "Occupy Portland":

• The co-worker who's always late for work. 
• The bicyclist who flipped you off after you honked your horn because you almost hit her while she blasted through a red light. 
• The waiter that ignored you for your entire dinner, but followed you outside to berate you because you didn't leave a tip.
• The roommate who never washes her own dishes and is always late with her share of the rent.
• The relative who is never on time for family functions.
• The "friend" who has never returned the book you loaned to him.
• The carpooler who never, ever chips in for gas or parking.
• The co-worker who never brings anything to the office potluck, but always first in line at lunchtime.
• The bus driver that kicks moms with their screaming babies off the bus.
• The high school student on the bus or light rail train that refuses to move his man-bag so the old lady can have a seat.
• People that still have John Kerry bumper stickers on their car. 
• Retired California Probation Officers.

For All You Protesters out there. . .

A local public defender gives advice to the "Occupy Portland" crowd in the Portland Mercury. Read the entire letter here. (What's Occupy Portland? See local coverage here.)

Read This Before You Protest: An Open Letter to Occupy Portland from a Public Defender

"Dear Occupy Portland:
I don’t disagree with many of your goals and aims. I think that the banks and large corporations and mortgage fraudsters that made a killing off the crash need a few less bailouts and a few more criminal charges to thin out their ranks. But I am nothing if not a realistic and practical person. I want you to temper your idealism and righteous rage with a nice slap of reality. So if, in fact, you gather enough people and present your version of Tahrir on the Willamette, things are going to get bad. And I want to give you a heads up about some things you may not have been thinking about."

What Do You Do With Your New Rollcart?

Residential Troutdale customers of Waste Management recently received new rollcarts for both garbage and recycling. Due to Troutdale's history of winter winds, I fought hard to get rollcarts with straps to hold the lids down to prevent loose garbage.

For a rollcart user guide "How To Prepare Materials For Recycling", click here.

Faster Than A Speeding Garbage Can

Scra-a-a-a-a-ppe! What was that! Looking out the window, there's the source of that fingernails-on-chalkboard scraping sound! An eastbound garbage rollcart being pushed along by the east wind. There it goes, into the Fujii berry field. Someone didn't secure their garbage can!

Missing your rollcart? Just go out into the berry field and take your pick. Along with assorted recycling curbies, Olde English bottles, you name it. I'm sure Dorothy and Toto stopped by there on the way to Oz.

Man, it's cold out there! I'm going to chicken out tonight and put out our garbage tomorrow morning. For some reason, however, our dog loves the cold wind. He doesn't want to come inside! But he ain't going out there again tonight. No way, dog.

Speaking of "faster than a speeding garbage can", tonight's city council meeting lasted only 20 minutes! Must be a new record. When I came back from the meeting, the Mrs. asked, "What are you doing here?" I said the meeting was short. The Mrs. then said, "No, I'm serious. What are you doing here?" *sigh* you can't please everyone.

Did I make good use of that new-found spare time on my hands? Heck, no. I watched American Idol .

Troutdale Raises Garbage Rates

Last week, the Troutdale City Council voted to give Waste Management a new multi-year exclusive franchise. In addition, residential rates were increased by about 20%, and Commercial rates were increased by about 30%. I was the lone "NO" vote for the rate increases.

The good news is, we also decided unanimously to change everyone to mandatory rollcarts for garbage, recycling, and yard debris. To combat the problems with loose garbage/recycling during Troutdale's windy winter days (like today), Waste Management agreed to provide connected bungee-style "Closers" to keep rollcart lids CLOSED, even if the wind tips them over.

Both the rate increases and the new rollcart system will probably become effective in March, 2008. If you're interested in seeing the new rates, e-mail me (robert(NOSPAM)(AT)robertcanfield(DOT)com , and I'll e-mail you a PDF of the new rates.

Portland Garbage Rollcarts: Not Best For Everyone?

Amanda Fritz writes about some potential problems with mandatory rollcarts and recycling food waste. She writes, "I question leaving food scraps sitting around even for a week before pickup for composting, even if households are supplied with containers with tightly-fitting lids. My experience with decomposing food is that it becomes very yucky, very fast. I've hauled enough stinky yard debris at neighborhood cleanups, too, to know that can be slimy and nasty when kept in airless bins, even without other food waste."


Read more about it at her blog, amandafritz.com

HEY, Troutdale! Secure Your $%* Trash!!!

Two weeks ago I posted several photos of Troutdale's "perfect storm" of garbage , "Troutdale Garbage Day Pictorial, Jan. 24, 2007". The city also received dozens of complaints that week. Excerpts from one of these complaints:

"I was outside on my front lawn with gloves on picking up soiled diapers and womens feminine products. We have a nature trail that runs just behind our house and have raccoons, skunks and snakes. This isn’t simply a question of an eye sore; it is a biohazard and an attraction to dangerous wildlife."

"I have called Waste Management before and I have called City of Troutdale and play nothing but ping pong! The bottom line is; when does it become someone else’s problem?"

Some residents think we should just live with a trash filled town.. An anonymous comment on my blog said,
"I CAN'T BELIEVE I VOTED FOR YOU. IS THAT ALL YOUR GOING TO DO IS DRIVE AROUND AND TAKE PICTURES OF GARBAGE BLOWN OVER BY THE WIND.YOU LIVE IN A WINDY CITY. IS THIS YOUR FIRST WINTER HERE."

The Gresham Outlook interviewed me about the garbage mess after seeing the pictures on my blog,
"Troutdale Garbage Storm Prompts Debate Over Recycling Methods"

Throughout the comments, there was consensus on the cause of Troutdale's garbage day mess: folks aren't securing their garbage and/or recycling containers. Some people don't even use garbage containers- they just put out hefty bags, which are easy prey for the wind, birds, animals, etc. And all of this loose refuse ends up on someone else's property.

With all due respect to Mr. Anonymous, who thinks living in a windy city means accepting all the loose garbage caused by irresponsible people, I know we can do better than this. Most Troutdale residents are very responsible and secure their curbies, garbage cans, rollcarts, etc. But a large number of Troutdale residents don't. The irresponsible ones. It's the same every week, year after year.

I say enough is enough. Not requiring Troutdale residents to secure their garbage is ridiculous. Allowing residents to just put out a hefty bag is ridiculous.It's time to make the use of rollcarts mandatory for both garbage and recycling. It's also time to require that residents secure the rollcart lids down with bungee cords or other methods.These simple steps will solve the large majority of our loose trash problem.

There are benefits to this approach for everyone. Rollcarts for recycling make the job easier. Even when blown over by Troutdale's winter winds, rollcarts with hinged lids secured by a bungee cord keep garbage/recycling secure.

There's no need to presort (except for glass)-everything goes into one place. Waste Management stated that people tend to recycle more, by about 15-20%, when they use the rollcarts.

Mandatory secured rollcarts also prevent folks from just tossing out a hefty bag on garbage day. No more dodge-the-garbage-bag for Troutdale motorists. No more free food and the resulting mess caused by crows, raccoons, and other animals. No more loose tampons and piles of cans and newspapers in your neighbor's yard.

I've heard some people complain about the cost of being forced to use rollcarts. Are you kidding me? 35, 65, and 96 gallon rollcarts with hinged lids cost between $1.40 and $1.75 per month. Thats all!! You can't even buy a cup of Starbucks coffee for $1.75! If you don't want to rent a rollcart from Waste Management, I'm sure the city could buy rollcarts at cost and sell them to Troutdale residents.

It's time to hold those most responsible for loose garbage and recyclables accountable for their actions: If your garbage isn't secured, you get a ticket. An expensive one.

We should have a public hearing on this issue, then move ahead with strict enactment and enforcement of mandatory (and lid-secured) rollcarts for garbage and recycling. We should issue written warnings to violators, giving them fair notice of the consequences for failure to properly secure their garbage/recyclables. If, after a warning, garbage/recycling is still not secured the following week, a citation should be issued to the offending party.

Other folks may disagree with me. I know some of my fellow city councilors will disagree with me. But if we really want this garbage hurricane to stop, what I've described above is the only solution. It's simple and inexpensive. Any other approach is just talkin' trash.

This is a public safety issue. I'd rather make sure every Troutdale resident walks the clean city walk.

Troutdale Garbage Day Pictorial, Jan. 24, 2007