Update on Side/Back Trash Collection Petition - What you can do now
Hi all,
I attended the joint board meeting of Larchmont & Mamaroneck last Monday on the issue of eliminating side/back trash collection, and spoke via zoom together with 2 others from this group. We represented the views of this petition and all who signed. I then viewed the subsequent Town of Mamaroneck board work session last night on the issue. It would seem that opinion of both boards is highly influenced by the Town of Mamaroneck Administrator Steve Altieri who is not in favor of reinstating the Side/Back Trash collection service. Several inconsistencies were put forth by the board/administrator, and a cursory powerpoint was presented. I will outline some takeaways at the end of this email.
Right now, the best thing you can do if you want to have the option of Side/Back trash collection reinstated is to write an email to the joint boards by Friday, after which they will close the period of comment. Then they will set a date for their vote, unless they are influenced to further study the issue and come up with a new comprehensive vision for trash collection, which is what's absolutely needed.
1. Please send one email of any length to all of the following stating your reasons for wanting the side/back service to continue as an option. They mentioned emails matter:
supervisor@townofmamaroneckny.org mayor@villageoflarchmont.org svaltieri@townofmamaroneckny.org townclerk@townofmamaroneckny.org, villageclerk@villageoflarchmont.org
2. We now have 321 signatures to our petition. It is still open for signatures, so if you have friends or neighbors who want to be counted, please forward this link:
https://www.change.org/keeptrashcollectionoptions
Some of the Inconsistencies that were put forth by the Town Administrator or Board Members:
1. We need to eliminate side/back trash collection in order to consider food scraps pickup.
2. Bins are not all over the streets, do not get overturned or blown around, and are not unsightly.
3. Our trash collection team is aging and therefore can no longer handle side/back trash pickup as they might get injured.
4. Our trash collection team are full time employees, with pension and benefits, but only work until they are finished. The faster they go, the sooner they leave, and often work only half days ( stated as 3-4 hours).
5. Decisions are being made without a public, in depth study as Scarsdale did - here is a link to Scarsdale's 37 page report with data. Scarsdale has twice weekly side/back door trash collection and food scraps pickup. No significant data was presented at our meeting, no studies have been made public.
My remarks to the board below in case you are truly vested here! I apologize to David Feldman who also spoke and ably pointed out the board's faulty considerations on this issue, and Christine Manzi, who convincingly read several of the more than 350 comments on social media. A few others spoke too. I'd include their remarks, but I don't have them and want to get this out so people can quickly write an email.
My remarks to Joint Boards Monday October 26th on Zoom (also sent via email)
Good evening to all and thank you for the work that you do for Town of Mamaroneck and Village of Larchmont. It is very much appreciated.
The remarks that I will make now have been emailed to the town/village clerks and Mayor/Supervisor for further review and to be entered into the record.
As you must know, there is significant disagreement with the proposed law to eliminate the highly valued side/back of the house trash collection. More than 320 residents have signed a petition in a short time opposing the elimination of this trash collection service, and more than 350 additional residents have commented in social media threads of which I’m sure you are aware. Many sent me messages and also reported that they called the town offices and spoke to Mr. Altieri directly.
Residents think maintaining the side/back of the house trash pickup as an option makes sense for three primary reasons:
1. It keeps more bins off the streets and improves our streetscapes. Larchmont Mamaroneck is a beautiful community and it is a shame to have bins, often overturned, often spanning the sidewalks, often blowing around, often with pieces of escaped trash lining the streetscape -- for several days a week. Many residents cannot get back from work in time to pick up their bins, so they are left out all day. Many residents put their bins out the day before. Sometimes recycling is not picked up until 4 pm, so we’ve got receptacles on our streets, all day, all midweek. Whatever can be done to mitigate this issue is deemed highly worth it.
2. The indicated tax savings of approximately $200,000, or $10 per resident per year, as told to me by Mr. Altieri, hardly seems worth the sacrifice and would not be returned to tax payers for the loss of the service. We think by keeping side/back and simultaneously taking a more comprehensive look at trash collection, savings could be achieved in other ways. There are many option, which experts can speak to which include:
- reduce landfill collection to 1 time per week, dual compartment trucks, single trip pickup, or other modifications
- levy fees for surplus trash, or fines for lingering bins
- look for savings in completely other areas
- look to other communities: Scarsdale has undergone a comprehensive rethink of their trash collection and published, for public view, a 30+ page report on how they modified their services to include; Side/back pickup, food scraps collection, and other environmental and community enhancing regulations. Perhaps we could follow that model and have the impeccably clean streets that they enjoy.
3. Side/Back of the House trash collection is a highly valued service, one that helps justify the very high taxation rates that we endure.
- residents point to property values enhanced by services, and, Steve Altieri himself defended side back pickup himself saying in Jan. 2018 that it should not be eliminated as “at this time most of the community likes our backdoor collection service”.
I have been involved with our community in many volunteer capacities over my lifetime here. I have seen opportunities and stepped in to upgrade how we live. 15 years ago, I developed “Bark for the Park”, an effort to replace lost trees in our parks, which led to over 30 new trees in Willow, Stuyvesant, and Flint parks among others and insured our designation as a tree city USA. 10 years ago I saw the opportunity for a local Farmer’s Market in our train station parking lot, and after much opposition from leadership who couldn’t envision how it could be done, we launched the Larchmont Farmer’s Market by working through the roadblocks and now we have one of the most successful farmers markets in Westchester with over 1,500 visitors each week, and all the connection, community and healthy eating it brings.
I now see the same game changing opportunity for our Town/Village again. Opportunity to make our streetscapes more beautiful, to rethink trash and encourage residents to compost, recycle, consume less and be a forward thinking community. With all the recent improvements in Mamaroneck to the Avenue and Harbor, and in Larchmont Constitution Park and Flint Park – we have the opportunity to add and modify and make it better, not to cut and eviscerate and make it worse which would happen if side/back pickup is eliminated.
If now is the time to change trash laws, let’s change and uplevel by leaving a valuable service in place - updating to a more comprehensive set of trash collection regulations that point everyone towards the sustainable and beautiful community we want to be.
Thank you.
Wendy Weinstein