Let's Play a Game!

Let's see how long it takes the City of Dayton's waste collection department to empty my garbage can. Here is the scenario. Over three weeks ago, on February 4th to be exact, I put out the garbage can for the property that we bought across the alley from us. I took an area rug that was falling apart, folded it and secured it with duct tape and dragged it out to the alley and placed it on the top of the can because the can was already half full. When the garbage truck arrived in the afternoon I watched from my window as the guy emptying the bins pushed the rug onto the ground, empty the bin and left the rug laying in the alley.
I went out immediately, picked the rug up and placed it in my bin. Here is the picture that I took from my window.

Here is a picture that I took after witnessing the collection crew drive by it the following week.I added a few sheer curtains to the bin. I have several garbage bags of stuff sitting in the house that I need to put in the bin but as you can see there is no room and the City workers won't empty it.

Now, for those reading this who don't know, I was Mayor of this city for 4 years and one of my pet peeves before getting elected was the way that waste collection did a shoddy job for their customers. We made some vast improvements on many fronts in those 4 years. However, it seems that since the new administration (which is really the same four council members who were there before I was elected plus one of their old school board friends) is doing exactly what they did before 2010. That is ignoring the citizens. So this past year they gave themselves a pay raise, made a renewable part of the city income tax permanent by misleading the voters and have imposed a street light assessment on most city properties based on the previous year property value. (Yes, property values declined this year but the assessment is on the higher rate. We have to pay an assessment on a vacant lot as if the house was still on it ....) All these fees and taxes mean job security for the city employees so they are back to treating the customers who pay those taxes badly. It is nice to know that the former mayor is treated the same as every other citizen. I wouldn't want special treatment, I just want the garbage can that I pay for every three months and use about once every six weeks emptied when I place it in the alley as I am expected to do. If you don't believe they are ignoring this can then watch what they did this week on the 18th.

While the trash collectors were ignoring my garbage can, the current mayor made headlines on February 11th in her state of the City speech about a customer service initiative to improve relations with the citizens. Something we never had to do during my four years, since I was described as the most accessible mayor the City had known. Another point I need to make is that the population of the City had declined continuously for 20 years until I was elected, Then it actually started to increase. Customer service begins at home and if you can't provide good customer service then your customers will start to leave once again.