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This got picked up today. All that’s left is the dead grass from where the trash sat for almost three weeks.  Interestingly, this did not get picked up today.  Both houses on the on the same street, North 3rd, and about a stones throw apart.  Hmmmmmmmmm…..

A few houses up the street from house from yesterday is giveing away a easy chair if you know anybody looking for one.

The trash in the picture below has been waiting to be picked up for close to three weeks. The house in the picture is on North 3^rd – the main corridor from the industrial park, I-35, CAC and the Mayborn Center into downtown area. I am fairly confident that this mess appeared on or before September 2. I know for a fact it was there on the 3^rd – this was when I made my first note about it. The bulk pick up day for this house was supposed to be on September 8^th. This Tuesday, September 22, is the next pick up day. According to the plan approved by the Council (4 of the 5 members) the maximum amount of time garbage is supposed to sit in a front yard is nine days. So what happened here? I know, I know…. I could’ve called it in myself and gotten it picked up a long ago. But I was curious how long it would sit. Is this really the kind of curb appeal we want to be known for?

I have been blogging about City stuff for six months now. So how we doing so far?

Let’s see…
The taxpayers dodged a $2.7 million bullet that would have provided no bang for their buck. We’ll call this a win!

I’m sad to say that the taxpayers will see an increase in their solid waste rates while at the same time we will see more trash on the streets for longer periods of time. The vote was 4 to 1. Can you guess who the loser was?  My only consolation is that the trash will only be out on the streets a maximum of 9 days instead of 14+ days. Since it didn’t turn out as bad as it could have we’ll call this a draw.

The conflict of interest issues that caused me to launch this blog are still hanging out there for all to see. All that is needed to put this issue to bed is a Charter Review.

If a truly independent group of citizens serving on a Charter Review committee were to bless the current, and unprecedented, practice of awarding multi-million dollar construction contracts to a sitting Councilman I would be more than happy to turn loose of this albatross. So far I am on the losing end of this stick.

Finally, It would appear that I have, for the moment, lost in my quest to curb the practice of perpetual reappointments of the same people year after year to City boards. I have been adamant since my first day on the Council that we need to continually be appointing new people to these boards. It is ironic when you think about the fact that the handful of folks that want to serve in perpetuity were once newbies themselves.

If you are new to this blog please don’t assume that I only write about the stuff that I don’t like. I have spent considerable time writing about a lot of the great things going on in our community. I think this is important too since our local media’s glass can tend to be half empty a lot of the time.

1 win, 2 losses and a draw. I’m kinda sorta, almost batting 500.  Don’t worry I have 18 months left.

Maybe my take on people dumping trash in their front yard is all wrong. Until today I saw it as a step huge backwards in our approach to building and protecting the image of our community and neighborhoods. I kept thinking about all of the energy that has been expended towards this goal over the last six years.  Things like Keep Temple Beautiful’s efforts, our newly acquired Tree City designation and the formulations of neighborhood enforcement groups and strategic investment zones, recently enacted masonry and fence ordinances… It was just mind boggling to me that we would spend so much time, energy and dollars on these efforts and then make a decision to allow trash to collect on the curb for up to nine days.  But then it hit me - my glass was half empty and it should have been half full. As I was driving down 5th Street (District 3) yesterday I saw the stuff piled up by the curb in the picture below.  The old saying “someone’s trash is another man’s treasure” came to mind.  I thought of the old TV and mattresses from last week’s posts and came to the conclusion that we could really run with this. We could run radio ads encouraging people to visit Temple to check out all our trash.  “Need some furniture, tires, mattresses? Choose Temple!” could be our slogan. This could really drive tourism!  I must admit it was really shortsighted of me to get bent out of shape on this issue and I commend my fellow Councilmembers on having the foresight to tackle this potentially lucrative issue.  From now on my mantra is “the more trash the better!”

I am pleased to announce that the two piles of garbage were picked up sometime between 4:00 and 6:00 this afternoon. The good thing is that it got picked up.  The bad thing is that it took 7 days to get it picked up. I wonder what the neighbors thought about the mess.  What about the homes that are for sale?   What about the kids that ride their bikes on the sidewalk? For the record, I have no problem with leaving brush out for 7+ days. My problem is leaving trash out for 7+ days.

The picture below was taken Wednesday morning by my lovely wife.  Thank goodness some civic-minded individual reassembled the mattress sculpture. Looking good don’t you think?  Up to nine days is an awful long time to enjoy displays of this type.

Day 5

This photo was taken yesterday. Look at how the the pile is growing after only five days. Anyone looking for an antique television could very well be in luck.

Who says Temple is lacking in culture? Why just last Friday I snapped the first two photos (from left) with my handy-dandy Treo. While we could spend a considerable amount of time critiquing both of these avant-garde public displays of art I think it might be a tad bit more productive to discuss the unlimited viewing opportunities that will be bestowed upon us by your City Council.  It wasn’t so long ago that piles of garbage like these would litter neighborhood streets all over town. Often times the lucky neighbors would get the benefit to appreciate it for close to three weeks before the City would retire it to a more appropriate setting. A couple of years ago the Council instituted a policy that set specific pick up days for this type of art as well as brush.  The policy required people to assemble their front yard monuments the day before a pick up or pay for the privilege of having it removed. The brush provision generated a large volume of complaints and now we are throwing out the baby with the proverbial bath water.  Instead of modifying the policy to be more accommodating to the brush issue we are punting on the policy in general.  The plan as of now is to pick up, free of charge, anything people can set out.  The catch is that it could take up to nine days for the City to pick up the garbage.  This change will be viewed by some on the Council as increasing the level of service for the community.  I think it is a big step backwards.  Is it really in the community’s best interest to encourage the dumping of trash on our front lawns?  The photo on the right was taken four days later on Labor Day.  Somebody sure labored to make a mess. Is this really the direction we need to be moving?