Got back from a trip this weekend, and a blue recycling bin was sitting in my driveway. After not having any bins for the first couple of weeks of the program, I now have two.
I realize that recycling bins are not as hip as Deep Ellum or cheese (a new drug that is apparently the scourge of the DISD) or any of the trillion things that will be floated as campaign issues this year, but it is what city government is supposed to be about. Can the government pick up the garbage? In this case, apparently not. The recycling bin program has been a mess from the beginning.
And, to make matters more interesting, a city garbage can went missing about 10 days ago from the spot my neighbor and I share in the alley. Where there were two, there is now one. I dutifully reported the absence to 311, and nothing has happened. And this doesn’t include a note I got from a reader whose entire block in back of Hillside Village was ticketed by code enforcement because their bulky trash was on the curb on the wrong week. That the sanitation department apparently skipped their block on the correct week didn’t matter.
Note to the 21 people running for mayor: You’ll get a whole more votes fixing this than with any slogan or campaign glitz.
Update: I called 311 this morning about the extra recyling bin, and was told someone will come and get it in five to 10 days. I can hardly wait.
