City brush pick up?

[Bob]

I started piling some brush out front of my house and my neighbor informed me there were "rules" now and I couldn't "just" put the brush in front of my house... so I went in and looked it up...

GUIDELINES: Brush collection is a residential on-call collection service. Residents must request collection once brush is placed directly in front of the address provided in one pile. Wood waste may not be larger than 6-feet in length and 6-inches in diameter. Your pile may not exceed 4-ft long by 4-ft wide by 6-ft long. Brush placed out for collection must be generated by the homeowner. City crews will not collect brush generated by a contract tree cutter. Small amounts of brush, leaves, and grass may be placed inside your garbage container for weekly collection.

WTF?

OK I can only put it in one pile?
and 4 feet long by 4 feet wide by 6 feet long is how big? (does one of the new jobs my tax increase is paying for involve proof reading?)

I thought putting brush in the land fill was a bad idea...

[shrug]

[daworm]

Where'd you find that? I need to mail it to each and every one of my neighbors. The one next door put out about 20 piles of clippings this weekend, in the median, not in his yard (oh no, not in HIS yard), including in the median in front of MY house (he's done that before and the city tried to ticket ME for it).

[Bob]

www.chattanooga.gov (then click 311)

even better, if you call them to get your pile of brush they will drive by your neighbors pile of brush and pick yours up. If the neighbor didn't call they won't pick up his brush.

[joedog]

No Comment...

[ScarlettP]

And if you don't call, you get a citation and a warning that if you don't clean it up in 10 days, you'll be charged $500. If they can find your brush pile to send nasty letters... why can't they send the truck to pick it up?

[RuneDeer]

Here's what I don't quite get. We pay taxes for our trash to be picked up weekly if we put the container out at the curb. Why does it take SO MUCH bureaucracy to get "other" trash picked up? For example, on my block, people put junk out by the curb (old wrecked furniture, yard trash, etc.) and if they don't call for a pickup, the city comes along and puts a pink sticker on it. But it still sits there, week after week, because someone didn't call it in ahead of time with an address. Yes. People SHOULD know they're supposed to pick up the phone and own the pile by the curb. But many don't -- they're elderly or disabled, or someone just dumped something by the curb and drove away. Does the city think they're improving the quality of life by just leaving the stuff there? Do they think the pink sticker makes it more aesthetically pleasing? Can't there just be one big truck that comes by monthly or biweekly and gets the "unofficial" trash? They can have a size limit, so people don't leave a roomful of furniture out there, I suppose, but it's one of those shortsighted mentalities that well-meaning local municipalities have such an unfortunate tendency to get caught up in.

[Fredo]

The folks here in N Chatt just put it across the street on an unoccupied stretch of road. There is sits, month after month.

[Bob]

When I came back today, all three piles and the neighbors pile were gone. Don't know if he called though.

Pretty quick service, even though cutting the brush into little piles is a bit silly.

[LimitedRecourse]

Behold....the genius of your Mayor and his staff.

[joedog]

Jul 20, 2010 14:06:28 GMT -5 LimitedRecourse said:

Behold....the genius of your Mayor and his staff.

Again, No Comment.


Sometimes silence screams!

[Babs]

Fredo, you busted me!

[pictureman]

"Behold....the genius of your Mayor and his staff. "
Don't forget, the Recall Petition is still out there waiting to be signed.
When I went to sign it at the Brainerd Rec Center, the lady's pen was running out of ink so I gave her my brand new 29-cent Bic pen. (It would have been a 59-cent Bic with push button, but I'm saving money for my new, improved property tax.)

I've had dealings with those Trash Inspectors and their violation notices, too. Biggest mystery to me: if they have time to pull over, tag your stuff, and, probably fill out a government form for the crime of Unlawful Brush Accumulation, why don't they just go ahead and call their private 311 Hotline and have it picked up?

[Warkitty]

it's all about personal reponsibility, right? They're not responsible till you call. If you don't call, it's your responsibility to call and they're not picking it up till you take that responsibility to call.

[Felix]

The call to 311 system worked well in our one anecdotal experience. Clipping overhanging trees along the driveway produced a moderate-sized pile of brush. I went online and left our address. The brush was picked up the next day.

Worked for us.

[coffeeshooter]

I try to compost whatever I can find.
Being in the city we don't get a lot of brush, or leaves for that matter.
My husband hates my compost pile though.

[ScarlettP]

Now here's the fun part.... A friend of ours and former Forumite had a huge tree fall into his yard. Said tree was dead, but it knocked over a few other trees on it's way down. The tree fell on his house tearing off the gutter, some side shingles and breaking the large 'picture' window. It also knocked out the back glass of his car, put a very large dent in the roof and cracked the windshield. The Insurance is debating over whether or not they are going to pay for the damages. He was told not to touch the tree until it had been documented. Then he found out the neighbor's insurance company is call it an "Act of God" and don't want to pay. He can't live with a tree in his house and on the car so he starts cutting it back.

TWO DAYS after the tree fell, he has a notice in the mail that his yard is "Littered and Unhealthy". He has already called the City Brush pick up and explained the situation. They told him that he can ONLY put out a pile 4X4X6'. No pieces can be more than 6 feet long or 6 inches in diameter. If a professional tree cutter clears it up, the city will not pick up ANY of it. He told them that they are going to have to come by every day picking up piles if they won't take it all at once. They said "That's Ok. Just call every day."

WTF? What is he supposed to do with the 12 foot trunk that's a about 2 feet in diameter? What about this HUGE pile of brush that used to be limbs?

Well - He got a 2nd notice in all caps with exclamation points claiming he's in gross violation taped to his front door. Did the person delivering that note NOT see the tarp over his window? Or the broken car? Or the huge tree coming from the neighbor's side of the driveway?

WTF? He's cutting it up himself with a little bitty electric saw. We went over with my mom's small Toyota truck and got a load of big limbs for fire wood. My uncle is going over there Friday with his BIG chain saw to remove the biggest stuff in his larger, heavy duty pick up.

Our friend did NOT cut down the tree. It FELL from the neighbor's yard and caused a lot of damage to his home and car. The police and insurance people have both documented it. The Woman on 311 was informed that a HUGE tree fell and he needed the brush picked up. They will ONLY take 4X4X6' piles - One pile per day - But the city is still sending him "Love Letters".

The system is BROKEN!

[Bob]

the same truck that only picks up 4x4x6 piles used to pick up piles the size of my house. same truck.

Oh and they picked up three piles in front of my house.

[Justin Thyme]

Then he found out the neighbor's insurance company is call it an "Act of God" and don't want to pay.

If the tree was dead and the neighbor knew the tree was dead then it wasn't an act of God it was negligence on the neighbors part for not removing the hazardous dead tree. Keep all receipts and track of the time spent removing the tree and file suit against the neighbor. You don't even need a lawyer to do this.

[RuneDeer]

Jul 21, 2010 6:14:02 GMT -5 Warkitty said:

it's all about personal reponsibility, right? They're not responsible till you call. If you don't call, it's your responsibility to call and they're not picking it up till you take that responsibility to call.

But what if you take the responsibility to call about someone else's trash that was dumped in the middle of your block but not "officially" in front of an identifiable address? It doesn't work to give them YOUR address because it's not in front of YOUR house. They will drive right by your house, see nothing there, ignore the actual trash that sits 50 ft or so from your house, and drive off. If you give them the nearest address to the trash, they question why you're calling about someone else's trash. It does no good to say "it's in front of my neighbor's house" because they'll respond "Then your neighbor has to call." But your neighbor won't call because he or she is a)out of town b)blind c)without phone service or d)undetermined. And, it's not their trash (and maybe not precisely in front of their house, it's kind of betwixt and between).

The problem is that this bureaucracy only sees opportunities to issue citations. Citations for trash at what they think is your address, citations for "trash" in the form of falling trees from another address, as Scarlett described, citations for anything they can concoct, such as residents preferring to grow vegetables to eat rather than pretty grass to look at. It's not about helping people. The people have no status here, and we're the ones who pay for all this nonsense. That's what the problem is. If someone is paid (by many) to do a particular job and doesn't do it (for anybody), where does that fall with regard to "personal responsibility?"