Oscar and Me

My favorite children's television program as my kids grew up was Sesame Street. So when I feel a little grouchy I find myself identifying with Oscar the Grouch. Sometimes all I need is a little knowledge about the situation to ease my crabbiness; so this article in the AZ Republic helped my disposition a lot:

Gilbert's bulk trash pickup service is experiencing big-time backup, leaving residents with landscape clippings, electronics or other large trash items outside their homes for weeks.

Phone calls and e-mails have been pouring in about the situation, which has been caused by high demand for the free program, town spokesman Greg Svelund said.

"Our bulk trash has increased more than 25 percent year over year," he said. "When you look at two or more years of that kind of growth, it's an enormous amount of material."

With workers behind, piles of uncontained trash have sat idle for two weeks or longer, Svelund said.

Gilbert plans to hire a private carrier to aid collection efforts, as well as redraw bulk trash collection boundaries to balance the system, Svelund said.

The monthly service is for larger items that don't fit into black trash bins. Once a month, a household can set out microwaves, furniture, grass clippings and televisions for pickup.

Gilbert is trying to add more bulk trash workers and trucks to address growth. In 2004, the town had nine full-time drivers and plans are to bump up to 17 full-time drivers for the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

For questions, call (480) 503-6400.

For several weeks now, I've been sweetly enquiring (okay, more like grousing than asking) of The Mister why the bulk trash sits on the curb for so long in our otherwise delightful neighborhood. Until now, his answer has been that the pickup times haven't been very consistent, so it's hard for folks to know when the trucks are coming. This article makes sense of it all, and also offers the hope of relief.

Oscar can continue to be grouchy, but I feel better just knowing the facts.