There's an interesting bit of blame-shifting in a recent story to hit the local media . . .
KC Cameras Help Track Illegal Dumping
It's all well and good to blame some maintenance dude for cutting corners but the thesis of the story focuses on residents and ignores the responsibility of city. To wit . . .
KANSAS CITY'S BULKY ITEM PICK-UP HAS LONG BEEN A PERSISTENT MYTH THAT CONFOUNDS RESIDENTS ENOUGH TO MAKE ILLEGAL DUMPING SEEM LIKE A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE!!!
Don't believe me?
Try scheduling a pick-up and then wait patiently. But please don't hold your breath.
This is usually around the time when some bored KCMO worker gets defensive and invents a story about the new-ish bulky item system working perfectly. If that was the case, this town wouldn't be getting trashier every day.
The fact of that matter is . . .
KANSAS CITY'S QUOTIENT OF ILLEGAL DUMPING HAS INCREASED SINCE BULKY ITEM PICK-UP WAS SWITCHED TO AN APPOINTMENT BASED SYSTEM!!!
My evidence to back up this thesis is a quick glance at any open clearing in a poor neighborhood.
So . . . While it's easy to cast blame on a few d-bags and their waste . . . What's evident is that a City more enthusiastic about spending money on toy trains than dealing with local trash shouldn't be so quick to blame residents for this town looking more like a dump every day.
Trash and metal plates on road...definitely attracts tourism...
ReplyDeleteI went online and scheduled a bulky item pickup in about a minute or so. Admittedly the appointment was a few weeks off, but nobody promises instant pickup.
ReplyDeleteThere won't be any bulky items on the sidewalk in front of the new taxpayer-funded downtown hotel!
ReplyDeleteThat's what important in KCMO.
It is more than just bulk item fail. the city made it so that you cannot put out more than two bags of trash at a time. A lot of poor families live together (5+ to a house) and they generate more than two bags of trash. In wealthier areas the people can afford to purchase the "extra trash bag" tags that the city sells. But in poor areas people cannot afford to do that, so they dump trash on vacant lots. The city needs to rethink its "one size fits all" solutions to problems and it needs to allow for more trash bags in the poor zip codes.
ReplyDeleteBut of course they won't do that so I end up with a whole dumpster of trash tat I have to figure out some way of disposing.
City council is so out of touch that I am surprised they are even embodied at all....
J. W. Helkenberg
City Hall has been out of touch for a while. Charging for extra tags does not reduce waste. As long as the city makes it inconvenient or charges for trash/bulky item pick up, this city will continue to look like Detroit--which is A+ dump.
ReplyDeleteHave the illegal dumping done at he CAN center. That way, the KCMO cops stationed there can be in charge of protecting illegal dumping and protecting illegal immigrants.
ReplyDelete2/1/12 10:00 AM
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good plan.
At least then the Cops would be in charge of something since they can't control crime.
Funk wins.
ReplyDelete9:06--
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Are you really trying to make this some sort of a discrimination issue? How about those giant green trash cans that some parts of the "urban core" are allowed to use? They're bigger than a 55 gallon drum and can be filled all the way to the top. Just roll em out to the end of the driveway. But yeah you're probably right. Im sure every Northland/Brookside/Plaza home consists of only 2 adults and 1 child in every household. Why on earth should we be so graciously allowed a whole 2 trash bags like everyone else in the city (minus those who get the giant trash cans)? Way to subconsciously stereotype.
There's a very clear public recor of why we're where we're at.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is a single person most responsible for the trash mess who championed the reduction in bulky item pick-ups and the bag limits as a cost cutting measure.
It was pitched to the public as a belt-tightening/budget reduction/ revenue generating scheme but in reality, it was a north of the river vs. south of the river thing.
Seems northlanders didn't use the bulky item pick-up as much nor did they generate as much trash as the folks south of the river.
So it "wasn't fair" that northlanders subsidized south-of-the-river disposal and cutting bulky item pick up service and limiting the number of bags that would be picked up wouldn't hurt 1st and 2nd district constituents- regardless of the impact south of the river.
And that's exactly what they did.
I've used the bulky item pickup twice in the last six months and they showed up the day of the appointment and took it away. Its worked fine for me. The extra tags are $2 a piece. That's a pittance. The system works fine.
ReplyDelete11:50:
ReplyDeleteAnything else you'd like for the Northland to provide for you while we're at it? (I mean considering we ARE the tax base?
I scheduled a bulky item pick up day, by appointment and the bulky items did not get picked up. I did later pick them up so I would not get fined by the city for illegally dumping trash.
ReplyDeleteKansas City loves to design programs for the people, which really are meant to scam the people and enrich the already rich. I think bulky item trash pick up is just another example of this, of course the items do not get picked up and then the city fines the home-owners for dumping trash.
Bulky item pick up, touted as being more efficient logical, really just a scam, Animal Control another scam, The Combat program another scam. The underlining goal for the city of Kansas City is to cipher money away from the residents to line their own pockets, but there is a tipping point and scams can only work so long until the entire system breaks, only to once again benefit the rich, who sweep in and buy the properties for pennies on the dollar, keeping the poor, super po.
Of course there a few individuals who continue to improve the lives of residents and make the city better, but these people just become targets like TKC and J.W. Helkenberg, the bad people find ways to sue them or the city will issue ticket after ticket to destroy the people making the neighborhoods beautiful, which is why Kansas City remains a shit hole and everyone plays their role to keep it this way from the politician, to the city worker, to the police officer.
9:06 Thats not 5+ families living in one house. Its 1 Mom, 10 kids, and the father of the month.
ReplyDeleteive always dumped illegally,just faster and more convenient for me..being a contractor ,it saves me a lot of money and time.
ReplyDeleteJessica, please move out of the city and quit BITCHING at everything.
ReplyDeleteI said this when it first started, more dumping in our city. The "people in charge" do not realize that when we had bulky item pick-up, how much of the "waste" was taken away by scrapers, artists, and everyday folk. It is a sad, sad situation!
ReplyDelete5:24: So true. The old regularly scheduled bulky item pickup program encouraged a lot of recycling. Based on what I saw, the city didn't have a lot to pick up after the recyclers took what they could use.
ReplyDelete10:44
ReplyDeleteI guess your the chump who is okay with spending money to throw away trash.
Definitely how I like to spend my money.
1:29
ReplyDeleteA petition de-annexing the Northland from the rest of KC would be a good start.
1:29 that is an awesome idea. I am tired of footing the bill for south of the river. Maybe then they could build a decent community center up north. We could rename south of the river Detroit.
ReplyDeleteSorry 7:49, but your deannexation petition would only allow you to name the Northland.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest something that reflects your Lee's Summit wannabe with your MethTown reality.
Maybe We's Dependence?
Remember when the Earnings Tax was sold to us because we were going to get "free" trash pickup? Well, we got what we paid for here.
ReplyDeleteWe just put stuff out and put a "free" sign on it. Somebody always takes it.
Dont know if it is because KCMO residents are just really stupid or if we are stupid and giving away good stuff.