Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[PRN]

Congratualations on your election Yasmin. 2 questions: First, would you please consider if the ANC can do anything about people dumping their garbage in the trash bins in Park Road Park (the small triangular park with the bus stop on Park btwn 17th Street and Mt. Pleasant Street). The cans are frequently filled to overflowing with what is clearly household garbage; Second, just curious about where you live in our ANC district.

Thanks!

[Cory]

I'm not sure if Yasmin has responded to this yet. The trashcans continue to overflow from what appears to be illegal dumping. Has anyone been able to get a hold of her? The cans are owned by Parks and Recreation. Would they be the agency responsible for emptying them?

[Gregg Edwards]

This has been a problem for many years, and I looked into it at the request of several neighbors. The cans also support a goodly population or rats. Each adult rat only needs an ounce of food a day to survive.

A major problem has been dumping. Folks have been leaving their garbage and waste bags leaning next to the trash cans in the Park Road triangle park.

I have not checked the situation since last year, so the info below could be outdated.

The trash is picked up by the Department of Parks and Recreation. They only have a few trucks, and with budget cutbacks, have trouble keeping them running.

A good solution would be for this responsibility to be transferred to the Department of Public Works. Their trucks pass by these cans frequently. Their fleet is much larger, and better managed with economies of scale.

Even such a consolidation might not work. I looked into how often DPW empties trash cans on MtP St by placing sheets of colored paper in the cans., then checking back a week later to see if there had been a pickup. Often the pickup delay has been over a week, and in one case almost three weeks. It is getting better.

I've spoken to the rat control folks in the Department of Health, and they have put some heat on DPW. Last month I spoke to the director of DPW and he has promised cooperation on pickups, and on another problem of trash disposal, street sweeping.

A far larger supporter of MtP's rat population than the above sources is the open or cracked lid dumpsters around many large apartment buildings. I did work with the Mayor's outreach group to talk with the restaurants, and most have quickly cooperated. The apartment building owners and managers are too often generally negligent in repairs, and dumpsters seem to be far down their lists of priorities...

As the weather warms, don't be surprised to see a lot of rats.

- Gregg Edwards

[PRN]

Thank you Gregg for looking into this. I live across the street from the park and the cans (especially the one closest to Mt. P Street/Park Road intersection) are almost always filled to overflowing. We complain frequently. I have looked at the garbage and it seems to mainly be from the Apt building in the first block of Mt Pleasant North of Park Road. I think what happens is that for some of those residents the trash bin is closer than their dumpster and folks dump trash on the way to the bus stop or subway. It seems to increase with inclement weather. I also saw at least one address from a 1700 block house on Park Road. I will be happy to help with any complaint or observation and can be reached by e-mail from this site. It is a shame that one of the entries to our neighborhood is often a dumping site.
Thanks again for looking into this.

Lance A.

[Cory]

I emailed Yasmine about this a couple of months ago. She contacted Jackeline Reyes (Dir. of Community Affairs and Latino Outreach) who, in turn, contacted John Stokes at Dept. of Parks and Recreation and Johnny Gaither at Dept of Public Works. Johnny responded quickly saying that he thought this was under his division of streets and alleys.

Considering that full kitchen trash bags are often overflowing from the top, there is no question in my mind that this is a problem of illegal dumping. Below are John and Johnny's emails. Perhaps, we should use them to report directly whenever we notice an overflow. Another option would be to request that caps be put over the tops of the trash cans so that people can't get large bags into the cans.

[email address removed - log in to view]
[email address removed - log in to view]

[Gregg Edwards]

After talking with Yasmin, I called Wilson Reynolds, Director of Constituent Services for CM Graham. He said he will follow up on this long-standing problem.

Wilson is following-up on several cases just like this all around ward one (& DC). He gave me details, including the Parks officials he is working with. Wilson is diligent and sounds like he is making all the progress any non-agency person can.

What about a longer-term solution, like handing a minor function of Parks & Rec to Public Works where it is a large-scale organized operation?

Don't bother: It's an obvious idea and many have tried before. They just annoyed folks trying to maintain their budgets or keep DC Council committee realms stable.

- Gregg Edwards

[loralee1]

What about simple police patrols in the early morning hours to prevent this sort of stuff