8 AUG 08: A TIME OF WASTE

"Are you planning to go to the trash hearing?" a woman asked me earlier this week. Well, actually I wasn't. Thursday night is poker night, after all - and I could get my fill of trashy talking there.

But this question was almost like a dare to me. A city government hearing on reducing trash collection to once a week could make for great theatre. Maybe an angry resident would show up with a filled garbage bag to wave in the air - only to have it turned away by the Government Center security metal detectors.

So Thursday evening we headed to the Government Center for the first of two public forums on trash collection. And what do you know - we were allowed inside the Government Center without going through the security check at all. Apparently City Manager Isaiah Hugley isn't as important a resource after 5:00 p.m.

The City Manager moderated the hour-long public forum - but for all the discussion around town about trash collection, fewer than 20 members of the public showed up. They included some regular community activists, such as AIDS patient Jeremy Hobbs and Gloria Weston-Smart of Keep Columbus Beautiful. But Bert Coker was missing - perhaps out putting up more yard signs.

(By the way, the woman who asked if were going to the forum did NOT personally show up. What that man said about marriage after 50 may be more accurate than I realized.)

Deputy City Manager Lisa Goodwin explained Columbus city government actually has four options, when it comes to the future of trash collection. Keeping the "status quo" with two pickups a week is one of them - but fuel costs for the city's 29 garbage trucks went up more than $290,000 last fiscal year. That's $10,000 more per truck, or slightly higher than for the average SUV.

But what struck me is that 43 percent of the money in the "Waste Management Fund" last fiscal year was spent on personnel. It makes you wonder how well the garbage truck drivers and officials are paid -- or if the prison inmates on the crews are smoking higher-quality cigarettes these days.

One slide shown at the forum notes revenue from city garbage collection has gone up 4.8 percent since 2002. But expense costs have jumped almost 52 percent. Could we illustrate this, by asking students at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation to dump some local solid waste on Venezuela?

So there's the "status quo" option for trash collection. There's the proposed cut to one pickup per week. Then there's the "summer/winter split" - with once-a-week collection in winter, changing to twice-a-week from April to September when it's warmer. Is this really what the city's suggesting, to replace minor league baseball?

The fourth option mentioned by Lisa Goodwin is keeping twice-a-week collection, but raising monthly fees. Yet here's the thing - fees may go up, even if the city cuts back to once-a-week collection. Hugley revealed a new detailed rate study will begin this fall. So garbage could be like ice cream at the supermarket -- with less delivered for more money.

Columbus city government is recommending the once-a-week option for trash pickup. Lisa Goodwin says that not only will save more than $600,000 per year, but mean less pollution from the garbage trucks. Of course, a few idling METRA buses could make up for that....

A map distributed to the audience showed the city would be divided into quadrants for garbage collection. The pickup days would be between Tuesday and Friday -- so the annoying phone calls asking about garbage on Monday holidays would end once and for all.

When the time came for questions, it became clear that most of the audience liked the once-a-week trash collection option. The only noticeable exception was Jeremy Hobbs, who was concerned about the smell from diapers. Come to think of it, the scented candle shop at Peachtree Mall could be a big winner from this.

Several people said the strain on city landfill space could be reduced if Columbus made recycling mandatory. One former California resident declared, "We've got too many people in this town who are too lazy about recycling." Not to mention attending public hearings, to challenge her viewpoint....

But the City Manager openly doubted Columbus residents are ready for mandatory recycling. Besides, he noted the "blue bins" would have to be larger - which would mean a new mascot for the program called "Big Bin."

Another interesting announcement at the forum concerned the city's recycling agreement with Goodwill Industries, which an e-mail to this blog has questioned. City Manager Isaiah Hugley said the agreement expires next summer, and he expects a "very competitive process" of bidding for a new contract. Wow - it could be disabled people against the homeless folks at the House of Mercy.

Then there was the moment which made me feel quite guilty - when Isaiah Hugley noted Columbus city rules bar you from putting your trash at the curb before 7:00 a.m. on collection day. If the City Manager had made an altar call at that moment, half the audience might have come forward to repent of their sins.

(Thankfully, the city has only six enforcement officers assigned to watching for garbage violators. But once those 100 new police officers bring Columbus crime under control, look out....)

If you missed Thursday night's public forum on trash collection, another one is planned at the Government Center next Tuesday night at 6:00 ET. I assume city officials will make the same basic presentation - trying to set a good example of recycling.

>> Why aren't we very thrilled about this day being 8/8/08? Read why at our poker blog, "On the Flop!" <<

E-MAIL UPDATE: Another city-related meeting Thursday had a blog reader's interest. In fact, it was noted in the comments section of our current Big Blog Question Wednesday....

here is what happened at the dev auth this AM

10 m for woodmont 3 permanent jobs

10 million for rob doll --who helped get some of the council members elected- they then appoint the tax assessors- who gave him the windfall of !0 million off in his taxes....

dev auth makes recommendation

tax assessors approve

flow chart for authority to give tax abatement

http://www.gingerlake.com/columbustaxassessors.html

This is referring to the city's Development Authority [13 Jul] - and if this is accurate, it granted a large tax abatement to Rob Doll Nissan. The writer suspects there's politics involved, since Rob Doll is a top Georgia Republican Party officer and supported the one-percent sales tax question. But then again, couldn't a vote against the abatement also be called political? Last time I checked, Mayor Jim Wetherington was still a Democrat.

Another message Thursday concerns the outgoing/returning Muscogee County School Superintendent:

Did you read Steve Hyles' Letter to the Editor in the Ledger? Steve said he could not believe in a time when educators are preaching non-violence the board gives Dr.Phillips a pistol as a retirement gift..Does he really need a weapon for protection or is this just a macho thing? You go Steve,you have my vote for judge.

I couldn't track down that letter Thursday night - but it seems Stephen Hyles hasn't been reading the newspaper's sports section. Northside High School has a highly-ranked marksmanship team, and the students certainly aren't firing slingshots.

Richard Hyatt's web site did some research, and found there's apparently a tradition on the Muscogee County School Board of giving firearms to departing superintendents. Some longtime residents actually might consider it appropriate. But we won't get into that unsolved murder of the superintendent on Broadway here....

Instead, we'll quickly check a modest Thursday in terms of news:

+ Democrats Sanford Bishop and Calvin Smyre called a news conference at a Victory Drive gas station, to promote Barack Obama's energy policy. Someone should have asked the politicians if they've already switched to hybrid or E-85 cars - or whether they're waiting for Congress to pass the tax incentives.

(The fuss John McCain made about the Obama energy plan led me to some deep thinking. If I see a car along the roadside with a flat tire between now and November, should I assume it's a Republican who didn't bother to check his air pressure?)

+ The radio news web site "All Access" revealed Archway Broadcasting is selling its four Columbus radio stations to PMB Broadcasting for $7.2 million. I'm assuming the "point-two" is the WRCG part....

+ Former Southern Union Community College student Stephen Boss finished second on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance." Somehow Boss gained the nickname "Twitch" - and I can't imagine it was to avoid confusion with Bruce Springsteen.

+ Reports from Texas indicated former Alabama football coach Dennis Franchione will help broadcast the Clemson-Alabama game on ESPN Radio 30 August. I wondered why they were playing this game in Atlanta, not Tuscaloosa - and now we may have the answer.

SCHEDULED THIS WEEKEND: A look at Columbus from high in the sky....

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