nimblescout50 said:I mean, they don't necessarily need to be briefed on every little detail—but if you ask me, they’re far too wrapped up in their own pride to actually listen to a decent suggestion, much like what was mentioned in the post above. It's just how they operate.
Jack Hill2 said:I actually decided to look up the Department of Sanitation online.
This is what I found:
- No new trucks have been purchased in five years, yet they’re running them through two or three shifts - 45% of the fleet is out of commission - They are short at least 25 trucks - Regular maintenance hasn't been performed for years - Debt from repairs and parts has been piling up for years - Way too many administrative staff, not enough actual workers - Young, capable people are leaving because the pay is too low, and they can find better work elsewhere
To me, these don't look like issues that started yesterday... and they won't be fixed within a single term.
Honestly, it sounds like the classic symptoms of a corrupt mindset: "Who cares if we skip a service interval? We can just pocket the cash, and nobody will notice." "It doesn't matter if we swap a new part for a used one on a city truck. Nobody will catch on." plus "The city/state/county won't go bankrupt over $0.33" "No big deal if we pay double for a part, nobody will notice." "Doesn't matter if we hire one more person for administration, it won't kill anyone." "Who cares about ten years from now? As long as we grab the money while we can." "You'd be crazy not to take advantage of the situation while you can." "I'm not going to be the only honest fool left." Etc.
It’s no secret that these issues didn't just appear overnight, yet there was more than enough time to actually fix them. How on earth can anyone argue that a single term isn't sufficient? If you listen to the implication behind the claim that one mandate isn't enough, it essentially admits that the current administration is utterly incompetent—leaving us to stare down the barrel of a total systemic collapse.
What exactly is our priority here—investing in an electric vehicle fleet or just getting twenty-five trucks on the road for the Department of Sanitation? If we are facing a labor shortage, the solution isn't some flashy technological pivot; it’s basic management. You raise wages, you improve working conditions, and you start recruiting new staff immediately to fill those gaps.
dustymarlin10 said:Who’s actually gonna pay up? Not happening.
By the way, why don't you try letting your own property go to hell and see how much trouble you get in from this same government?
Look, there’s neglected land and crumbling infrastructure scattered all across the United States, not just tucked away in New York City...
@Andrej It actually caught me off guard when, after several decades of pure neglect, the state finally bothered to tidy up the park near the local community center. Or rather, they just cleared out the overgrown brush. And even then, they were only fixing up the area inside the hospital fence.
It’s essentially a paradise for mosquitoes, too. A city shouldn't be footing the bill for maintaining someone else's private property, but they ought to at least issue an order or send the owner a bill. Instead, the code enforcement officers seem completely toothless; they can't even give me a straight answer—I couldn't manage to extract a single coherent explanation from them. It reminds me of my father's property out in the Hamptons; the local inspector just threatens him with a fine until he cleans up the lot, and that's the end of the conversation.
So, you mentioned you've been tending to the plot yourself because the inspector suggested it, or perhaps suggesting we hire some crew to handle the heavy lifting. Believe me, I would if I could, but I simply can't afford to shoulder that cost alone. Besides, I wouldn't dream of touching it right now—there are a few foxes making themselves quite comfortable in the brush.
Casey Cook10 said:Oh, for sure. And man, you can really see how much the prices have jumped lately. Plus, it feels like they'll probably just cut services in neighborhoods where they don't have much political clout anyway, which is pretty typical.
I feel like people should just storm the New York City Council every single time they miss a pickup. Maybe then those "experts" could actually figure out how to fix the mess.
Rather than reversing that downward trend, they’ve essentially ignored any semblance of balanced urban development, leaving us in a position where they wouldn't even hold their previous strongholds a year ago.
It isn't even a matter of malice; they are simply incompetent, coupled with a level of arrogance that makes them utterly useless.
P.S. I'm watching a worker from the NYC Parks Department trying to patch together some grass right outside my building, but it hasn't even begun to take root. 😕
Meanwhile, the blackberry thicket encroaching on our little local park is left completely untouched—presumably because the land belongs to the federal government, which has zero interest in maintaining it. I even spotted two little foxes lurking in there, which suggests they've made it their permanent residence.
I find myself wondering: is it really such a monumental task to tidy up a space and send the bill to the state?
It might just be because someone of importance lives in your neck of the woods 😉
I can't quite put my finger on why, but even at my place, things have been remarkably orderly so far; they show up right on schedule, as predictable as a Swiss watch.
I don't think they’re being loud just to spite the current administration; rather, it feels like Bill de Blasio passed away at the absolute worst possible moment, just before everything started falling apart. The current leadership hasn't exactly handled the transition with grace, especially since waste management is the most visible metric of success and should have been their top priority. To make matters worse, their current director didn't exactly leave a glowing track record at his previous job.
The real question is whether anyone in charge actually possesses a functioning thought process. I was walking over to the Walmart near Brooklyn yesterday, and the scene was nothing short of a disaster—every single trash bin was overflowing, surrounded by literal mountains of discarded bags. To be fair, I can't recall a single time when things looked any better than this. What we have here is essentially a growing landfill of bulky waste. We’ve had a sanitation officer assigned to this area for what feels like an eternity—at least a month now—and yet, absolutely nothing has changed. If they hadn't ignored the buildup a month ago, we wouldn't be staring at a pile three times its original size today. It seems even you felt compelled to toss that armchair, or whatever else it was, onto the existing heap.
gentlestag15 said:Just grab a bag, pick it up, and toss it in the trash. I recently found a pigeon on our local subway platform in the exact same state—just a magnet for flies and ants.
My trash hasn't been picked up since Friday; hopefully, they show up tomorrow per the usual schedule. If they miss it again, I’m honestly going to start stacking black garbage bags next to the bin out on the curb (not like I really have a choice).
Since Friday? It's Monday now—that's three days of waiting.
rowdytinker3 said:Who's actually in charge of cleaning up carcasses on the street? There’s a dead cat in my neighborhood that’s been baking in the sun for three days now.
Poor little thing.🙂
Give them a call: https://www.nyc.gov/site/sanitation/index.page
Pardon me for drifting off-topic, but I couldn't resist. An unnamed individual suggested that the former leader had absolutely no interest in the party itself or its growth. However, if you would be so kind as to listen to just the final two minutes—starting from the thirteen-minute mark—you’ll hear the advice he offered to the rest of the leadership team. Sadly, I fear such nuance might be a bit too much for them to wrap their heads around.
He said it. $67 The committee led by that unnamed individual has achieved nothing more significant than the suggestion of a multicolored bench—which, if memory serves, was merely some guy repainting an old piece of junk to make it look new. $123 The entire concept behind that old development project was fundamentally shortsighted from its very inception. Now, they’re busy announcing the new steam plant, the Badel complex, and I can even hear whispers about the Harmon area—it really is just more of the same. This is clearly the ceiling of their competence; they possess absolutely no sense of how to prioritize what actually matters.
An unnamed individual made an astute observation earlier regarding how the electorate functions; people tend to fixate on a remarkably narrow spectrum of issues, essentially demanding very little from their leaders. They focus almost exclusively on the granular details—things like road safety and pothole repair, the quality of local schools and daycare centers, and if I were to add my own two cents, the efficiency of municipal waste management.
It’s almost poetic, isn't it? That shared adversary spent his time cozying up to and cutting deals with the Republican Party—an organization he supposedly loathes—which essentially gave him a free pass to pillage whatever he pleased.
All things considered, I think unspecified summarized the situation quite effectively, even offering them some rather pointed advice in the process.
Sure, things would certainly be better if it were handled that way.
Eric Adams certainly knows how to play the part; he acts charming enough, and it’s a nice touch that he maintained some semblance of decorum by acknowledging you with a polite greeting.
But there’s a catch: this same polished gentleman can look a person straight in the eye—someone he clearly recognizes, someone he used to court for political leverage back during the campaign trail—and simply choose to ignore them. It’s hardly an accident; it feels more like a calculated move to avoid honoring a promise he made before the election.
Jeffrey Long said:You seem to be overlooking the fact that waste-to-energy plants don't just burn trash; they generate electricity and thermal energy too. That actually goes a long way toward lowering the overall carbon footprint... 😉
I haven't forgotten. Given the CO2 emission targets set by the European Union, these incinerators aren't exactly getting a warm welcome in Europe. However, I'm starting to realize the whole thing is a farce; since most plastic is practically impossible to recycle, we're essentially witnessing a massive greenwashing operation where waste is smuggled off to developing nations to be burned in cement kilns. This cycle isn't going anywhere because plastic manufacturers are hell-bent on ramping up production regardless. The "circular economy" is little more than a clever marketing gimmick. So, I suppose I've learned everything there is to know from that documentary Peppa Pig recommended.
As for Eric Adams, he just parrots a few rehearsed talking points like some mindless bird; I’ve lost all faith in his supposed expertise, as he understands this crisis about as much as a Bandit does. Yet, he carries himself with all the misplaced confidence of a common thief. One can only hope his capacity for making mistakes isn't quite as vast as his ego.
Kevin Harris93 said:Sam Wright21, You’re practically glowing with dissatisfaction here. Look, once you filter everything out, there isn't smoke left—just CO2 and water vapor. Has anyone ever heard of someone separating O2 just to dump it back into the atmosphere? And what are you supposed to do with the carbon? Turn it into graphite or diamonds? I haven't heard of anyone doing that either. And please, don't give me that "electricity is clean" line without explaining where the power actually comes from. At the end of the day, the results of any combustion process are pretty much identical to what happens at this incinerator.
Sure, let’s just plant enough forests to absorb all that CO2, shall we? Just turn every abandoned lot into a lush green space. So, if we want that pristine environmental utopia the greens dream about, we’re stuck with rivers and wind, powered by the sun, until eventually, we're just left with nothing but the sun itself.
We might just have to accept these types of plants because, honestly, besides nuclear, I don't see any other viable sources for clean energy right now.
If we fight against every single solution being offered, we’ll just end up with a Green Left coalition teaming up with TT's Možemovac crowd to make New York City incredibly filthy.
"Just" CO2 🤣
Exactly. This is supposedly the gold standard, all for the low price of half a billion dollars.
darkhawk30 said:I think you're overcomplicating things. The truck driver needs a decent wage $2.50, but the "brutal labor" is being handled by the crew. So how much are we supposed to pay them then?
Ideally, everyone should earn enough to live a dignified life, but I fear we’re steadily sliding away from that reality.
I happen to know someone who worked as a preschool teacher—specifically with the tiny ones. They do their jobs with total devotion despite the chaos. You've got everything from toddlers throwing ear-splitting tantrums because they won't follow instructions, to messy diapers, to angry parents who can't grasp why a kid wasn't changed the second it happened, all while managing oversized classes. It's relentless. On top of that, you're constantly having to hoist kids who are already getting quite heavy off the floor or out of cribs, and your spine doesn't exactly care about your physical limits.
You can at least curse at a pile of trash or a garbage truck, but you can't do that to a child—and hopefully, you don't.
I’m all for people being calm and satisfied in their careers, but personally, I’d much rather have a calm, relaxed preschool teacher.
My point wasn't actually about the drivers; I was thinking specifically about the sanitation workers. I've always been a bit of a perfectionist—call me a bit too uptight if you want—but part of the reason I'm so meticulous about my own mess is simply because I don't want to create extra work for them. I tend to delay everything just to ensure I'm not adding to their burden.
That said, I do agree that being a preschool teacher is an incredibly demanding job. I've never once disputed that.
Kevin Harris93 said:This one’s pretty interesting. Though, honestly? I'm not sure if New York City actually needs a better one.
CopenHill is basically the cleanest waste-to-energy plant on the planet.
The problem is, that isn't actually true: Quincy:
The design for the CopenHill incineration plant and its integrated "ski slope," covering some 441,000 square feet, took home first prize in an international architectural competition back in 2011. It's expected to assist the Copenhagen municipal government in hitting their lofty goal of becoming the first city in the World to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2025.
Look here: Quincy:
The plant's chimney was specifically engineered to release rings of steam every single time 550 pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.
If you watch the documentary, they actually visited CopenHill and sat down with the officials in charge. The reality is that CO2 emissions are simply unavoidable; even if they’ve managed to scrub all the other nasty pollutants out of the smoke using various filters, the carbon remains.