An idea I have heard that I really like is that we no longer provide alley recycling and we transition to transfer stations. Most recycling in alley bins are contaminated and can't be recycled but almost 80% of recycling at the transfer stations can be recycled. The city is still able to provide recycling services to those that take the time to properly sort and it frees up drivers since they no longer need to run the same routes twice (1 for the trash and 1 for the recycling).MattnSTL wrote: ↑Mar 05, 2025Yes, I believe any contracting of trash pickup would require switching to all roll-carts, or just contracting out the current roll-cart portion and switching those drivers to the dumpster routes. Irony on that would be those are the routes that are covered on the scheduled day consistently since the carts need to be emptied when they are out.quincunx wrote: ↑Mar 05, 2025I thought contractor trash pickup was problematic due to the dumpster pickup method.
I guess a contractor could do the rollouts.
The truck and alley dumpster style that the City uses is primarily a municipal type. It is not at all unique to the City of St. Louis like some people acting in bad faith tried to claim a couple years ago, but it's not as common. Private companies, at least around here, don't have the trucks with the emptying system to match. I like having dumpsters in the alleys. No carts to deal with bringing in and out and storing, and when needed, I have the room to dispose of big things. I try to keep my trash production to a minimum as we all should, but sometimes you need some volume. I can deal with the alley dumpsters not being emptied on a consistent day, but it sure would be nice to not have them overflowing for the first time in years. My alley is usually fine, but the dumpsters in the alleys across the street from me are always quickly filled. Again, people need to produce less trash, but short of that. we still need more reliable service.
I would strongly prefer this and other work to be done by City employees. Which as we all know is going to require more improvements to compensation to attract more applicants. But I have been watching Megan Green acting as a surrogate for Jones tell us all for weeks that there is just absolutely nothing that the Mayor nor BOA can do to fix this problem, so the current people in charge should get no blame for poor service delivery (I simplified that just barely). Which is just a bizarre argument to offer.
I am good with that in general. I already take my recycling to whatever drop off site is closest to where I am working when I need to dump my bin since all the alley recycling around me just gets dumped in with the regular trash whether it is contaminated or not.Sarah K wrote: ↑Mar 06, 2025An idea I have heard that I really like is that we no longer provide alley recycling and we transition to transfer stations. Most recycling in alley bins are contaminated and can't be recycled but almost 80% of recycling at the transfer stations can be recycled. The city is still able to provide recycling services to those that take the time to properly sort and it frees up drivers since they no longer need to run the same routes twice (1 for the trash and 1 for the recycling).
I think Spencer's recycling plan us actually pretty decent. Not perfect but pretty decent. If she implements it, I think it'll be good. I just don't really like the opt-in plan as I think that'll get complicated and cause issues.Sarah K wrote: ↑Mar 06, 2025An idea I have heard that I really like is that we no longer provide alley recycling and we transition to transfer stations. Most recycling in alley bins are contaminated and can't be recycled but almost 80% of recycling at the transfer stations can be recycled. The city is still able to provide recycling services to those that take the time to properly sort and it frees up drivers since they no longer need to run the same routes twice (1 for the trash and 1 for the recycling).MattnSTL wrote: ↑Mar 05, 2025Yes, I believe any contracting of trash pickup would require switching to all roll-carts, or just contracting out the current roll-cart portion and switching those drivers to the dumpster routes. Irony on that would be those are the routes that are covered on the scheduled day consistently since the carts need to be emptied when they are out.quincunx wrote: ↑Mar 05, 2025I thought contractor trash pickup was problematic due to the dumpster pickup method.
I guess a contractor could do the rollouts.
The truck and alley dumpster style that the City uses is primarily a municipal type. It is not at all unique to the City of St. Louis like some people acting in bad faith tried to claim a couple years ago, but it's not as common. Private companies, at least around here, don't have the trucks with the emptying system to match. I like having dumpsters in the alleys. No carts to deal with bringing in and out and storing, and when needed, I have the room to dispose of big things. I try to keep my trash production to a minimum as we all should, but sometimes you need some volume. I can deal with the alley dumpsters not being emptied on a consistent day, but it sure would be nice to not have them overflowing for the first time in years. My alley is usually fine, but the dumpsters in the alleys across the street from me are always quickly filled. Again, people need to produce less trash, but short of that. we still need more reliable service.
I would strongly prefer this and other work to be done by City employees. Which as we all know is going to require more improvements to compensation to attract more applicants. But I have been watching Megan Green acting as a surrogate for Jones tell us all for weeks that there is just absolutely nothing that the Mayor nor BOA can do to fix this problem, so the current people in charge should get no blame for poor service delivery (I simplified that just barely). Which is just a bizarre argument to offer.
Cara does have that support, and her going in very well may be a positive if she brought those hqs and jobs back to downtown and the city, But i’m not confident it is anything more for those county CEOs and Bob Clark than “I don’t like Tishaura Jones” and we won’t actually see the corps and companies buy in. Let’s hope they do thoughdbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2025If Cara follows through with this in April, she will find herself in a very difficult position for several reasons.
First, she will be starting just a week after the election, which means it will take months before she can appoint “her people” to key positions. Additionally, the budget for the next fiscal year is already being finalized, limiting her ability to make immediate financial decisions or implement her priorities.
Second, many of her major donors—particularly West County CEOs—see her as a savior and a direct contrast to Mayor Jones. Consciously or subconsciously, they believe she will be more effective at handling basic governance simply because she is a white moderate in their eyes. This perception creates significant pressure for her to deliver on these so-called “simple” tasks. However, she is unlikely to succeed for several reasons: she lacks experience in handling such responsibilities, the mayor’s office has limited power due to decades of convoluted policies, bureaucratic procedures, union contracts, and an outdated city charter.
On that note, I strongly believe the city should simply take action regardless of charter constraints and let legal challenges arise if necessary. That said, I expect reality will set in quickly for Cara, and we will see her start backpedaling on many of her initial promises.
Here is the consensus position of those CEOs on downtown: they think it’s very important to the region, they want to see it vibrant and be the feature of the region but they want someone else to do whatever it takes to do that.delmar2debaliviere2downtown wrote: ↑Mar 11, 2025Cara does have that support, and her going in very well may be a positive if she brought those hqs and jobs back to downtown and the city, But i’m not confident it is anything more for those county CEOs and Bob Clark than “I don’t like Tishaura Jones” and we won’t actually see the corps and companies buy in. Let’s hope they do thoughdbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Mar 10, 2025If Cara follows through with this in April, she will find herself in a very difficult position for several reasons.
First, she will be starting just a week after the election, which means it will take months before she can appoint “her people” to key positions. Additionally, the budget for the next fiscal year is already being finalized, limiting her ability to make immediate financial decisions or implement her priorities.
Second, many of her major donors—particularly West County CEOs—see her as a savior and a direct contrast to Mayor Jones. Consciously or subconsciously, they believe she will be more effective at handling basic governance simply because she is a white moderate in their eyes. This perception creates significant pressure for her to deliver on these so-called “simple” tasks. However, she is unlikely to succeed for several reasons: she lacks experience in handling such responsibilities, the mayor’s office has limited power due to decades of convoluted policies, bureaucratic procedures, union contracts, and an outdated city charter.
On that note, I strongly believe the city should simply take action regardless of charter constraints and let legal challenges arise if necessary. That said, I expect reality will set in quickly for Cara, and we will see her start backpedaling on many of her initial promises.
