Dearborn May Eliminate Curbside Leaf Collection
City Also May Issue New Trash, Recycle Containers to Residents
Dearborn’s curbside leaf pickup program is on the table as a possible budget cut, yet another proposal the city is eyeing as a way to help trim a projected $20 million budget shortfall, the city confirms to DeepsaidWhat.com
Trash bins such as the one pictured here could soon be issued to residents citywide.
Separately, Dearborn officials also are looking at implementing a new trash and recycling program that would provide each home one large container for trash and one large container for recycling. The city last year began a pilot program with these containers in one area of the city and now is looking to expand it citywide.
First the curbside leaf pickup. Regular readers of this site will know that leaf pickup is one of those hotly debated topics; with some saying it is a waste of resources and others who feel it something that needs to stay.
Curbside leaf pickup may soon be a thing of the past.
Just how much the city would save from such a move isn’t yet clear but when you consider that the vehicles and number of hours of labor needed for leaf removal would no longer be needed (not to mention fuel, vehicle maintenance and purchase of new equipment), the savings could be sizable. As most cities have already abandoned street leaf pickup, this seems like an easy decision for the city to make. As inconvenient as it might be to drag 40 leaf bags curbside, this seems like a cut most residents would understand.
While there is no final decision yet, a city spokeswoman tells us to “stay tuned, as we continue with these tough, but necessary, decisions.”
Now for the new trash and recycle containers residents could soon be receiving. Dearborn’s current waste and recycling contract with Waste Management expires on June 30. The new contract has not been awarded yet, according to the city.
“It is hoped that we will be moving citywide to a system like the one in the pilot area, with one large container for trash and one large container for recycling,” a spokeswoman for the city tells us. “The pilot area has experienced a dramatic decrease in litter with this system.”
Such a change would mean the elimination of several dozen jobs for Waste Management workers, the company Dearborn currently contracts with to pickup trash and recyclables. The new large cans are designed to be picked up by a mechanical arm operated by the driver of the trash truck, making it a one-person job.
April 4th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Before you know it we won’t have any services for the residents — take away our pools, now our leaf pickup, whats next. I guess simply pay your taxes, and shut up, at least thats what Big Jack seems to want. The Big fella better not get too cocky, because we will remember when he runs again, whether it be for mayor or judge. This City is becoming a travesty. Try and see the big guy in his office — its impossible. Nice open door policy.
April 4th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Maybe I’m not getting the point – the personnel are already working and being paid, the trucks are already there and must be maintained so just how much money can be saved? Apparently the city doesn’t even know – how can they say it will save money? They can talk to the taxpayers when they have solid figures in black and white.
April 4th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Ending the leaf pickup in hard times is a no brainer. Ending our trash pickup as it now exists is the last nail in the coffin for the city. We all know that many times a year people will have much more than one can full. There will be people having their yards, basements, garages stuffed with trash. If the pilot program is so successful, why aren’t results of the study made available for the entire taxpaying population to see and review. Just go into Detroit where they have the one large can per household and see how successful that has worked out.
April 4th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
packards1, I think that city feels that the results of the study were made available by the spokeswoman who said, the test area for the pilot program had a dramatic decrease in liter. You don’t believe that and neither do I. So far the city hasn’t given any figures on any of the program that ‘could’ be eliminated. Do they ever plan to let us know or do they just do what they have been doing – just sit back and hope we buy into anything and everything they do.
April 4th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
I think if the large can system is going to be implemented, the option for additional cans needs to be made available at a cost to residents. Some homes simply have more waste as a result of more family members or ongoing work occurring in the home. Will this be an option?
Also, what would this do to our amnesty-type items? We currently can put just about anything at the curb within reasonable weight limits, but what if we have something that needs to go that won’t fit in a large can? Can anyone in the pilot area give answers to that effect?
@Andy, if you think that given the current economic climate we will be able to maintain all of these plush services, I hate to say it but you are sorely mistaken. Look at how much your tax payment is going down this year—how can the city operate all of these services on revenue that has decreased so dramatically?
April 4th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
We used to wonder why our neighbors used to have bags and bags of trash every week lining their curbside. Turns out they were bringing medical/pharmaceutical waste from their non-Dearborn offices to dispose of here–things like used needles, etc.
It came to an end when they were reported to the city by the waste disposal company. Thank goodness for monitoring such situations.
April 4th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
“Plush services” ? Having trash removed from the neighborhoods to help keep everything decent to live in is not a plush service. Limiting everyone to one can is asking for trouble a year down the road. Also, where would the can be placed? If in the street, how are all the plush “public services” we now enjoy be accomplished? Current guidlines are very clear that all trash must be on the easement or else.
April 5th, 2010 at 12:22 am
If you want this city to survive and prosper everyone needs to go to youtube and search “Detroit in Ruins” and watch that video. I warning you in advance, if you are a UAW member you probably won’t like it, but it is the truth, and the truth doesn’t always go down like sugar. Search the video and keep an open mind. I beg you, for the sake of the city you live in a care about.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:01 am
Thank God I am moving. The city officials, including this community task force, are idiots~!
April 5th, 2010 at 7:05 am
We received a $422 reduction in our property tax this year on a single family aluminum sided bungalow. Many others I have spoken to who have larger, higher assessed property value homes received over a $1000 property tax reduction.
With almost 40,000 residences in Michigan, not counting business properties that most likely received reductions as well, using the $422 per residence as an average, it comes to a $16,880,00 tax base loss for the City of Dearborn. This is the major reason the city is forecasting a $20 million dollar shortage in revenues this year.
There is no way increased revenues will cover all of this loss. Therefore, there aren’t many other options but to either cut services or cut amenities. The big question is, what services and/or amenities does the city cut or eliminate and which ones are we willing to live with on a reduced basis or to live without.
April 5th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Correcting the error above, I meant to state there are approximately 40,000 residences/homes in DEARBORN, not the state.
April 5th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
You aren’t talking about the loss by the 40,000 taxpayers on their property values. All of it cannot be blamed on the economy. There is a reason that everyone isn’t flocking to our community.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Where can i sign up to give back my property tax reduction?
I’d gladly pay that money back into the system, if it meant stemming the tide of service reductions in this city. Property values are down and services are being reduced everywhere. Since I’m not looking to leave for greener pastures (given the fact that I really don’t think there are many in this state — if any at all), I’d be more than happy to pay what I’d been paying a year ago in property taxes, if it meant I wouldn’t have to hear any more half-baked cost-saving plans with no meat behind them.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Seems the bids were put out for garbage disposal company’s and Waste Management lost to a lower bidder. I am not happy about this as I have lived here for 15 years and never have had a problem with my guys and have even given them cold soft drinks in the summer for the extra garbage from my annual garage, basement cleanings. Not only are you limited for the amount of garbage for these new “BLACK CANS” they require less man-power which in turn leads to less bulk garbage picked up. On a positive note, they may keep the rodent population to a minimum if everyone uses them properly. NIX STREET LEAF PICKUP and bag OR mulch your own.
April 5th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
The homeowners bulk leaf pickup is a nice to have thing that can be elimated in these hard times. However, homeowners are not responsible for cleaning public streets and I am curious as to the plan the city has for that and how they will stop homeowners from putting leaves in the street. That will be a challenge for the city.
April 5th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
And everyone is forgetting to mention the city’s rainy day fund. I believe it now stands at approximately 18 million dollars, or more.
April 6th, 2010 at 2:57 am
If this is not a rainy day, when will there ever be one.
April 6th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
It seems like those street sweepers are sweeping almost year round,i would have to guess the cost of buying those and to maintain them is pretty costly. Do we really need them?
Is the concept of cleaning up the curb in front of your own house too much for us residents to handle ourselves?
I would rather keep our pools open and leaf program and get rid of those useless sweepers!
How does it make sense to make everyone bag their leaves which in many areas is a massive amount,but the city will have a big expensive sweeper remove the dust from your curb?
Think about it people,im sure all of us residents young an old can go out to our curb with a broom and can and clean up at times,but can we all get a rake and rake tons of leaves and bag them and move them to the curb?
The answer is no!
The real solution to cutting cost and saving money is to keep the leaf program and sell and eliminate the street sweepers.
Are you listening Mayor?
April 6th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Last year we had 3 and sometimes 4 sweepers, one after the other, that would go around the block at least twice. Seems to me that they just move dirt from one spot to another and create a bunch of dust.
April 6th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Again,i have to ask why the mayor thinks that its ok for people to rake and back their leaves and drag a lot of bags to the curb over a 2 month period while 10 street sweepers move a bunch of dust or paper cups 8 months of the year?
People that attend the pool meeting this Monday need to ask the mayor how much each of those sweepers cost to buy,how much the cost is to maintain them and how much is the cost in fuel for the sweepers every year and how much could they sell them for.
I don’t know the numbers but i would guess the cost of 10 sweepers and the maintenance and the fuel cost is well over the cost to keep some swimming pools open.
Do we want to keep some of dearborns cherished treasures or would we rather watch expensive machines move dust around all year?
April 7th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Could someone from the ‘Pilot area’ please give us your comments on how the large containers are working for you.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Donna, that’s what I’ve been waiting on. How is the pilot really going? Do they only get 1 can or do they have the option to purchase another? Where does the can go? Most communities I’ve seen that have these large cans put them on the street….which would cause trouble with the current public service day plan if we continue to clean streets. What are those in the pilot area doing with large garbage items?
April 7th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Let’s cut down all the trees that will end the leaf problem.Seriously, lets implement a leaf container drop off point. The parks could have a drop off day, we could fill our plastic bags and empty them in the containers on our appointed day.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:41 am
How much has the city profited from the recycle program? How much could the city make from collecting scrap metal. The junk trucks almost cause traffic jams picking through trash on trash night. Thought that was prohibited. How many city trucks and cars do you see joy riding on a daily basis?
April 7th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I reside in the pilot trash toter neighborhood. I am V.P of the Dearborn Federation of Neighborhood Associations as well as president of my local neighborhood organization. We were chosen due to the large amount of trash on our streets- not only that was put out at the curb regularly but also floating around the yards. I live within the Tireman/Greenfield/Warren/ Chase boundaries. We all were a bit skepitical of the toters initially, especially our senior citizens due to their size. After more than a year no one would give them up. We still get bulk pickup weekly, extra trash is either placed out in trash bags or residents old trash cans, we still roll the toters to our easement not the street- currently the trash collector just rolls the can to the truck to lift by mechanics into the bed. They are then replaced back on the easement. The toters are quite sizable but roll easliy enough, the recycle toter is huge compared to the old and hold a generous amount-that is collected only twice a month- still some neighborhood confusion about that but recycling has increased dramatically. The trash toter holds about what three 32 gal cans could hold depending on how you bag. Has this solved all our trash problems? No- we still have issues with containment due to laziness or misunderstanding on some people’s part- but this will probably never go away. We still have kids who litter just because and trash that blows from businesses and Detroit borders but I will say that it is a noticable improvement from what was and greater compliance is happening that cuts down on litter. The toters are expensive and I don’t know if anyone would want to pay for extras- seems as if we have some homes that “spring clean” every single week and , yes ,some are bringing home trash from elsewhere -we discovered this also.
But I have members in our association that were not part of the pilot who beg to buy the toters and I when I drive thru town on trash days elsewhere I definitely notice the difference at the curb.
Now for the cons- harder to clean as they do not tip easily for rinsing out or getting crud at the bottom, have to clear a place for setting them after snow plows make the easement hard to use- I just shovel off a flat place. So far that is it.
Hope this helps, Donna
Mary Petlichkoff
April 7th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
An article stated the new containers/cans have wheels, a lid and are 96 gallons, approximately 3 times the size of most standard trash cans. Everything in these 96 gallon plastic cans still must be bagged. There was no mention of a fee for additional containers/cans, but the article stated as long as trash is bagged, we can still use our own containers that are 32 gallons or smaller. The trash should not be placed in the street. That’s what I’ve read. Hope it helps.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Lifelong, I’ve said this before ‘the powers that be’ decide to do something but I don’t think any of them think ahead as to what repercussions there might be.
They set up the public service days – twice a month, had the signs made and then decide to change and make them every week-new signs had to be made. The parking meters, cashiered lots, parking garages, etc., etc, etc.
What happens to these large cans in the winter if they are put in the street when the plows come barreling down the street? If they decide to discontinue cleaning the streets why do we need the public service dates?
April 7th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Thanks Mary – your comments are what we have been looking for.
April 7th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Trash, parking garages, paid parking, public service harrasment of citizens day…what else can they do without thinking it through. And by the way, speaking of public service day tickets….my son rarely writes a ticket to a Dearborn resident. We have had tickets at my house when we lost track of whether it was a “ticket” day or not. To add insult to injury, they never came by and cleaned the streets. How about that one? They may have come the next day, but by then everyone was back in the street. They need to STOP raping the citizens. This is so frustrating, but I the tide is about to turn. Let’s hope so.
Leaf pick up is a luxury. Get rid of it and get these people out of their houses to take care of the little patch of this earth they are responsible for. A 50 foot lot is not unmanageable. And the east Dearborn litter is out of control. So crack down over there and leave those of us who clean up alone.
April 8th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Leaf pickup is a luxury, you’re right. So will the city stop selling/planting trees? Probably not. The real issue is in the charter when the former mayor was afraid to speak out on linking staffing for police and fire to the population. That is killing the budget. Notice it never came up in the charter discussions either. So much for being able to use technology to reduce headcount.
And, if you’re looking for places to cut…. do council and department heads still get a city provided vehicle? Hmmmmm. Kind of looks like congress voting on the healthcare bill.
April 9th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
It’s 2:00 on my trash pick up day. The trash is still here, the yard waste is still here and they picked up recycled about an hour ago. We have been off the street for 6 hours. I haven’t seen or heard a sweeper or a tree trimmer. And no tickets were issued to those who stayed parked on the streets.WTF.
April 10th, 2010 at 8:52 am
My trash pick up is on Friday. My neighbor’s car was in front of my house all day. No ticket was issued. I was mad because I wanted the street cleaned in front of my home. It was a waste of energy since no street cleaners ever showed.