posted November 1, 2009
I recently called for brush pickup at my residence. I watched while a truck with two men drove up and put a green tag on the brush pile telling me of your new requirements. I cut and piled the brush in accordance with your needs. I have called 311 daily for the past week and get a recording that this call cannot be completed at this time.
Now for my complaint. I used to pile up large piles of brush, and the city came by each month and collected it. Then one month it was not collected. I called as I thought it had been missed by mistake. I was told we now have to call in for collection. When I called this time, I was tagged and told I had to place it in 4X4X6 piles. I would suspect that soon we will have to tie a yellow ribbon around the brush pile to have it packaged properly for your prestigious drivers to collect.
I used to see city trucks running all over themselves on Brainerd Rd. during collection periods. I then saw trucks sitting in one location (screwing off) for as long as two hours. I suppose that something had to be done about this situation, but in place of proper guidance and supervision some "simpleton" developed the present system of collection. My guess is that a collective group of idiots came up with the program in place of demonstrating any form of leadership.
I also understand that the city recently purchased lots of new equipment. Perhaps this is your method of saving this new equipment. Our city property taxes recently went up necessarily while our services seem to be going down. The city seems to be taking their cues from the federal government as in Obama care and cap and trade.
I am 73 years old and feel that if I can stack it up, your new equipment and big strong city workers should be able to load it. I am sure there are many seniors who feel the same way.
Jerry Seely
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Dear Council members:
I am writing on behalf of my mother, Peggy Winningham and 120 other concerned citizens of Chattanooga who hereby petition the City Council to reinstate monthly brush collection for residents of Chattanooga.
Beginning August 1, 2009, the director of City Wide Services instituted a program whereby monthly brush collection effectively ceased. Instead, residents are required to call 311 to have a truck dispatched to pick up their brush piles.
Once dispatched, the city trucks will not pick up any other brush on the caller’s street or any other brush they may pass on the way to pick up the caller’s brush. In addition, the city has mandated that no branches longer than six feet or more than six inches in diameter, and no brush piles "exceeding ninety-six (96) cubic feet (4 ft. in width, 4 ft. in height, and 6 ft length)" will be picked up at all. Presumably, citizens who put out brush in excess of those quite narrow limits will be subject to a fine.
People who call 311 are informed, as noted by one concerned citizen, "of new legislation which requires each homeowner to call for pickup and to verify that they did not pay someone to pile those limbs for them." (see, Illogical Brush Pickup opinion posted July 25, 2009 in the Chattanoogan.com)
Despite what people are being told by Public Works, the "legislation," Ordinance No. 12260 (6/16/09), states nothing about residents being required to personally call for brush removal. Rather, the ordinance states: "brush and leaves shall be collected on a regular basis approximately once a month as designated by the director." Accordingly, we citizens cannot but conclude that the new ordinance is being interpreted by Public Works in a manner intended to chill and curtail city brush removal services and to effectively discontinue the program. The requirement that citizens must "demand" individual pickup, as well as the practice of not picking up any other brush that workers pass on the street, appear to have been imposed by the director of City Wide Services in clear violation of the ordinance mandating collection "on a regular basis approximately once a month."
The ordinance itself appears ill-considered in imposing such strict limitations on the size of brush piles that citizens must consider any notion of real brush removal services by the city to be illusory. One afternoon of yard work in the summer yields several times the 96 cubic feet of brush that the city will collect; in the fall, leaf piles likewise balloon far beyond the meager limits imposed by the city.
While, in theory, citizens could dribble their brush out 96 cubic feet at a time for individual pickup, such an arrangement seems to be a vast waste. As another commentator has noted: "Wouldn’t it be a more efficient use of time and gas to get it all at one time? We are paying for this time and gas that they are wasting. Not to mention the time it takes us to call repeatedly to get them to come." (Chattanooga Brush Pickup Woes, posted September 9, 2009, in the Chattanoogan.com).
As it now stands, the city’s huge trucks are dispatched to pick up one tiny pile of brush and nothing else, no matter how many other piles are passed on the way. This practice is obviously wasteful and presents public safety issues as well from the growing piles of brush that are simply not picked up.
The undersigned petitioners can only conclude that the requirements imposed by the director of City Wide Services (if not the size limitations in the new brush ordinance itself) have been calculated to effectively eliminate city brush removal services altogether by discouraging citizens from requesting the services at all. These cutbacks seem particularly inappropriate in light of the city’s recent interest in enforcing overgrown lawn ordinances. With the fall leaf season upon us, the petitioners ask the city to review City Ordinance 12260 and the practices of the director of City Wide Services through a public hearing on the question of why the former reliable system of brush collection should not be reinstated.
Respectfully submitted,
Steven R. Winningham
srw@winlawyer.com
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I have to agree with the posted complaint about brush pickup. There are numerous piles of brush in my neighborhood that have been sitting there for quite some time, and I find it hard to believe that none of these people have called 311 for pickup.
It seems the city has chosen not to provide this service anymore by imposing the strict dimensional requirements for pickup. Brush is hard enough to deal with without the dimensional requirements.
The situation is ludicrous to say the least. One has to assume that whoever, in their infinite wisdom, has imposed these restrictions has never had to deal with actually clearing brush and small trees from their property.
Peter Sarnosky
Stuart Heights
hbeing@comcast.net
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