By Linda Scott
Watertown Resident
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Perhaps you’ve heard that expression. I have some good new personal intentions … to get my blood pressure (bp) down. So I get up, breathe deeply, and take my bp. High, but lower than it was. I’ll take it. Now for a few minutes of meditation. (By the way, thanks to the Health Department and Stephanie V for getting me started on this path).
That’s done. Now let’s take a walk up and down my street with my dogs … weather’s cool, air is crisp, with that ever-present eau de garbage aroma (it hasn’t been collectedon the even numbered side of my street for fifteen days).
I’ve called 311 numerous times, and so have my neighbors. I know that their (311’s) intentions are good, but so far they haven’t been able to interest anyone in tackling this.
So, as I walk down the street, workers for the gas project are arriving. A strapping young man enthusiastically jumps out of his vehicle and puts on his hard hat. He’s parked in a handicapped spot for the second time in a couple of weeks.“Excuse me, sir,” I holler (he’s a few houses down). “Excuse me. Are you handicapped?” I manage to get his attention now, and he looks at me with a look of both confusion and disdain.
“You’re parked in a handicapped spot.” He gets a slight grin on his face, which I interpret to mean “So what?? What are you going to do about it??”
Fortunately for both him and for my blood pressure, a more senior worker who is driving a truck up the street, divines the situation and says to this kid, “You need to move your car. You can’t park in a handicapped spot.” The guy is not happy, but listens to his coworker.
Okay, so I’m back in the house. It’s 7:15 AM, and I’ve been told that the DPW has early hours (and only early hours) for residents to communicate with them.
I call, first option 2 (Trash and Recycle). I get referred to 311. I call option 1 (Representative). I get referred to 311.
I try to call the “Administration,” option, but that option no longer exists.
Who can I reach? Who can I reach at DPW??? I know … I’ll pick the option for “Accounts Payable.” They’re always open to collect money, I figure. And Bingo! I get an actual person! A lovely, polite young lady answers.
I ask her if the early DPW hours are only available to residents if they actually walk in off of the street? That question seemed to confuse her. I told her that I had some luck with the “Administrative” option before, but now it’s missing.
She confirms that the menu has changed recently, because of the “volume of calls.” (So help me, if this young woman gets in trouble for telling the truth, I’ll personally hire her lawyer! Blood pressure, Linda!)
This young woman gives me the e-mail for the guy in charge of trash at DPW. She says that during the strike he’s at the Waltham Street site, but he can receive e-mails. She even offers to e-mail him herself with the issue. I thank her and send this to Mr. Bacon (PS: I address him as “Mark.” His name is “Matt,” not Mark. It’s early … my mistake):
My e-mail to Matt:
“Hi Mark,
I have a request. I have submitted this to 311 on numerous occasions, but it doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere. Other neighbors have done the same. This is day 15 for trash not being collected on Olcott Street (and day 8 for yard waste). We have gaswork being done on Olcott. It’s been happening for months and is now at a stage where they’re just hooking one house up at a time.
We need some coordination here to get this problem handled. I hear that you’re the guy. Please contact whomever ASAP to get this problem resolved.
Thanks!”
To Matt’s credit, he responded quickly. Even though the news did not look good, I won’t shoot the messenger. I would say that telling the gas people not to work on that particular day of the week on Olcott Street or until they get the “okay” from the DPW to go back could be an option.
These gas guys, although nice and hard working, don’t seem to be in any kind of hurry. Some days the workers are parked, just sitting in their cars, for an hour or more in the morning until their trucks arrive. I’m guessing that’s not their fault and that scheduling is not very well planned. At any rate, I would hope that there would be some room for flexibility.
I’ve also heard from two residents in two households on my street that after the gas line work was done, they had to scramble and make multiple phone calls to find someone to turn the gas back on. Apparently, the contractor didn’t handle that.
Here’s Matt’s response:
“Hi Linda,
In normal times Republic would send drivers early to get in before the work starts. With the strike still happening Republic’s replacement drivers have been unable to get into town much earlier than 9:30 every day due to a variety of factors. I’m working to figure out how to get them down Olcott with the work, but when they’re digging and laying pipe unfortunately we can’t have trucks driving down the road.
Please leave the bins curbside and as soon as Republic Services is able to get a truck in there they will be emptied. Also if you have overflow or extra material that cannot fit into the bins please bring it down to the drop off site at 148 Waltham Street. We do have trash, recycling and yard waste drop off down here.
Thanks
Matt”
Perhaps you’ve heard this expression: You can’t get there from here? It’s 8:00 AM, and I’m already feeling tired. I’ve gotta take some pills!!
A Good News Update!
The latest (15 day) neighborhood trash crisis was resolved by noon today on Olcott Street! Matt, I want to thank you for responding to my street’s cry for help! It’s such a simple thing, trash removal, but it means so much to a neighborhood. I’m sure that you and I can both agree that we cannot wait for this strike to be over!
To My Fellow Residents:
My neighbors and I are in District D. Is anyone else experiencing these or other problems on their street and are having problems communicating with the DPW to get them resolved?
Please share them with us and indicate by street and/or district where this is happening. It would be good to get a real sense of where issues are occurring. This is not a replacement for 311. Please be sure to call 311 to get your complaint recorded. And have a nice, stress-free day!
They, WDPW and the City of Watertown are not addressing the disabled people of Watertown. They have a right to reasonable accommodation under the American Disability Act. I brought it up and the guy smiled, nodded his head and never followed up with me.
Having the same issues with disabled parking on the South Side despite reaching out multiple times to different departments over the years. Many city bylaws are being ignored, after years of committee meetings and taxpayer dollars to institute them. I was told the city doesn’t want to be ‘unfriendly’ to people (breaking the law).
This trash strike is certainly taking a toll on so many people. We are fortunate that most of our collections of late have been somewhat on time, but there are still definitely some issues. I feel badly for the union workers going without pay for so long.
As Lorraine mentioned it is difficult, if not impossible, for some disabled and older people to bring their bags to the temporary drop off site if their pickup is not done, and some people don’t have a car. The cardboard is more of an issue because that can build up quickly if you have numerous deliveries. To fit the cardboard into the green barrel along with other recyclables isn’t working for them.
It seems that many of the renters aren’t on top of that option or don’t feel it’s their responsibility to go to the drop off area on their own. One person said he felt it was the landlord’s responsibility, but that landlord doesn’t even live here and that’s the case in many circumstances.
I believe that more street work is still scheduled for the fall. I hope that the appropriate arrangements can be made with the utility companies and the trash pickups so more people don’t run into the problem that Linda and her neighbors encountered. We certainly don’t need more people having their blood pressure rise!
If this strike continues through the fall when all the leaves come down, will the temporary workers and trucks be able to keep up with the yard waste? If not, many working people will not be able to get to the temporary site during the week and they probably will be doing their raking and trimmings on Saturdays. Could this center be opened on Saturdays to accommodate this need?
Let’s hope the strike ends so we don’t have to worry about this, but it doesn’t seem like there is any movement from Republic to meet with the union representatives.
Hi Joan,
As usual, you’ve provided us with a well thought out and comprehensive look at this issue.
It’s certainly not too soon to plan for the near future, when changing conditions will make the City’s problems and the residents’ lives more difficult.
Hi Lorraine and Annette,
In my opinion, being a good neighbor involves being as tolerant, understanding and mindful of others’ needs as you can be. Companies whose employees come to work in a neighborhood, I believe, have the same obligation to be respectful of a neighborhood. There’s always the odd person (neighbor or company employee) who thinks that almost none of society’s rules apply to them.
For instance, besides being parked multiple times in the handicapped spot on my street, this car had at least two other motor vehicle violations that seemingly have not been addressed by anyone. But those were not my concerns. I was thinking about how my neighbor in a wheelchair’s life would be made even more difficult by a thoughtless (and illegal) act.
Being tolerant of inconsiderate people who make life harder for people with disabilities does nothing for the quality of life and friendliness in a neighborhood. And in my opinion, just ignoring actions that place more burden on the handicapped doesn’t make you a good or “friendly” neighbor. It makes you an apathetic one.
Annette, if you are being told that reporting this issue is being construed as being “unfriendly,”how is that really helping your neighborhood? Silence doesn’t solve the problem. But it does do two things. It makes life harder for the disabled and makes them think that nobody cares. It makes the person violating the rule think that what they’re doing is acceptable in that neighborhood.
I don’t know what Watertown departments have encouraged you to adopt this “friendly,” “I see nothing” attitude. Perhaps the Watertown Commission on Disability would find this repeated violation of laws written to assist the disabled and the dismissive attitude that accompanies it an issue to address?
Part of the Commission’s mission:
“The Commission on Disability researches local concerns experienced by people with disabilities and their families; advises and assists municipal officials and employees in ensuring compliance with state and federal laws affecting people with disabilities.”
Lorraine, again, it might be good to get the take of the Commission on this ongoing trash issue and how it is impacting the disabled in Watertown, including any possible workarounds that they can suggest that we should try.
Thanks for speaking up and sharing your concerns.