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Community Corner

The Great Garbage Collection Caper

The weekend garbage pickup mess was varied based on location and expectations.

If they were aware of it, some in East Atlanta Patch saw the notice about weekend pickups and believed their neighborhood would be one of the first. Some were proactive. Others had great timing.

Some were simply lucky, while still others were simply out of luck.

The city’s promise of resuming citywide garbage pickup in a Jan. 13 news release occurred, but with varying results. Of those who saw the release — on some local neighborhood or Neighborhood Planning Unit websites, Facebook pages or e-mail lists – few believed the garbage would be collected in their neighborhood beginning this past weekend.

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Instead, they focused on the detailed delayed pickup schedule.

Ormewood Park resident Katy Pando, who lives on Berne Street, saw the Atlanta Department of Public Works release and gave it a shot.

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“I read the release and assumed they would pick it up Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” Pando says, “and they picked it up today.”

Despite Pando’s positive experience, Ormewood Park seems to have gotten the worst of it.

Some residents reported seeing garbage trucks barreling down their streets without pausing. Of course, on many streets, like Eden Avenue, no one had put out their bins.

“The message from the city was clear as mud,” said Ormewood Park resident Edie Chase. “We only knew they would begin pick up. But we didn't want to leave the Curbies on the street indefinitely.”

In an e-mail Sunday, Atlanta Public Works Senior Public Relations Manager Valerie Bell-Smith explained the department has “been working as quickly as possible to get to everyone as road conditions have improved.”

Trucks seen in neighborhoods on Sunday were collecting Wednesday customers, she said.

Like Chase, Ormewood Park’s Kyle and Lena Booth are also Wednesday customers. They said they wished they’d known they could have had their Herbie Curbie emptied Sunday, “since both recycle and regular Herbies are overflowing,” Kyle Booth said.

Unlike Chase and the Booths, the Herbie Curbie and recycling of Wednesday customer Joy Carter of Ormewood Park’s Woodland Avenue were sitting on the street Sunday and ready for pickup.

“All the information I had was that garbage would be picked up last Wednesday, which I thought was nuts,” she said. “But we put our stuff out, and it's still sitting there. I just checked (7:25 PM Sunday) and they hadn't picked it up.”

Ecstatic – sometimes even gloating – reports of garbage being picked up on Essie, Delaware and Underwood in Ormewood Park came across the neighborhood listserv, balanced by those who either didn’t have their garbage ready or who watched a truck by-pass their streets or houses.

And if Wednesday customers were the priority, then all – if not most – of Ormewood Park should have had garbage collection. If only they’d known, or had – against City of Atlanta regulations – left their Herbie Curbies out indefinitely.

But few Ormewood Park residents leave their Herbie Curbies out on the street, a trend that’s reflected in other eastside neighborhoods.

In East Atlanta Village, for example, Ben Olmstead and his wife were on a walk with their dogs and kept pace with the garbage truck for a few blocks. But walking dogs presented a problem, since neither Olmstead nor his wife realized that garbage was being picked up Sunday.

“Our Herbie Curbie was not on the street. My wife and I joked about if we would beat the truck to our house,” Olmstead said, laughing. “We roughly kept pace with them for about two blocks. We were able to pass the truck once they got slowed down with about five neighbors in a row who had their Herbie Curbies out.” And that gave the couple just enough time to get home to put their garbage out with just minutes to spare.

The couple noticed an SUV following the truck and were skeptical at first, wondering about the Olmstead was ultimately impressed by the crew’s dedication and creativity.

“They also had an SUV that was following the garbage truck,” he added. “The SUV driver was getting out at houses where the Herbie Curbie was visible, and dragging them down to the street.”

Remarkable, considering that, in Olmstead’s estimation, on Van Epps, about 50 percent of the Herbie Curbies were on the street, and about 25 percent were pulled out by the SUV driver.

East Lake had positive stories as well, except for Brian Hammock, who lives on Hosea Williams. “It has been sitting there a few days. We were told it would be yesterday or today.” So far, the Hammock garbage remains.

Reynoldstown resident Liz Hill reports that she lives in Reynoldstown Square, a loft/townhome development. “They emptied the overflowing 8 cu yard dumpster on Saturday morning!” she exclaimed. Plus, she adds, that she’s heard from a friend who lives in Reynoldstown close to Moreland that City trucks were out this morning.

According to responses to inquiries, Cabbagetown, Edgewood and Kirkwood also did well. “My friend on Howard Street got picked up today – he was shocked,” said Kirkwood resident Maggie Yondorf. “I got picked up yesterday, as did most of the neighborhood.”

Yondorf’s “shocked” friend is John R. Williams, who saw a notice about garbage pickup on the Kirkwood website. Although it didn’t say “whose was being picked up when, I figured if they were out there, I stood as good a chance as anyone of being picked up.”

He was right, especially since his Curbie had been ready since Thursday when the news of weekend pickups were first announced.

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