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Let’s make garbage pickup more efficient, says Fioretti

January 19, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Chicago Tonight, on WTTW channel 11, compared Chicago and Los Angeles with respect to garbage pickup. Recycling is also discussed. It aired on December 17, 2009, but the problem remains today: less than half of Chicago households have “curbside recycling”, recycling rates remain low, and garbage collection costs a lot of money. Will the new Chicago mayor address these issues?

Jay Shevsky says, “Garbage collection is one of the keys to staying in office.” Switch to Alderman Bernard Stone (50th ward, 10th term): “An alderman is judged mostly by his garbage collection. You can pass all the legislation in the world, but if you’re not a good housekeeper, you’re not going to get re-elected.”

Watch the video on WTTW’s website.

To Bernard, Ward-based garbage pickup, a superintendent (making $70k – $113k per year) and a refuse coordinator (making $51k to $86k per year) constitute a “personal touch” which “saves money in the long run.”

“There’s absolutely no reason why any Chicagoan needs to call the alderman in order to get a new garbage can.” – Laurence J. Msall, president of the Chicago Civic Federation.

A city worker picks up garbage on Michigan Avenue in Chicago in December 2010. Photo by John W. Iwanski.

Matt Smith, spokesperson for the Department of Streets and Sanitation (and still today), says that the recycling pickup is routed regionally to be most efficient, but about changing the Ward system for garbage pickup to a grid or regional system, he said you have to analyze that to see if it would be the right change. No word on if they have made such an analysis. “Sure we want to do it as efficiently as possible… but you want to ensure that any changes you do are gonna benefit you, they’re gonna be the most effective.”

Los Angeles uses 1 worker per truck – the driver. They pull up the truck next to the garbage bin and a robotic arm grabs the garbage bin and dumps it on the top. In Chicago, there is 1 driver and two laborers. Our other differences include:

  • Los Angeles is larger: 600 square miles versus Chicago’s 470
  • Los Angeles has more households: 750,000 versus Chicago’s 600,000
  • Los Angeles picks up more garbage: 1.4 million tons versus Chicago’s 1.1 millon
  • And they do it all with fewer trucks: Los Angeles uses 224 while Chicago uses 350 trucks

Host Phil Ponce closes the TV segment by mentioning that Alderman Fioretti said he will introduce a resolution in 2010 to examine switching to a grid system. I don’t know if he did this or not (neither the 2nd Ward or City Clerk’s websites are ideal news or document repositories).

Europe trip recap: List of cities I visited

January 18, 2011 / / 0 Comments

All links lead to a photo or photoset of that city. More links will be added as I upload more photos. Cities are in the order I traveled through Europe, over 18 days.

All blogs about this trip are under the tag, Europe trip.

A bike “jam” – everyone in the photo is performing a “Copenhagen left” or box turn.

The Schwebebahn is the world’s oldest operating monorail that operates daily in the North Rhine-Westphalia city of Wuppertal, Germany.

Wildly different priorities

January 17, 2011 / / 0 Comments

The people of the Netherlands show how they place priority on a multitude of transportation modes on every block.

Take for example this Hard Rock Cafe in Amsterdam, a restaurant known around the world – there’s always one in each country’s largest cities.

The only way to arrive is by foot or by bicycle! There’s no car drop off or parking lot. The rear of the restaurant has patio seating along the canal so it might even be possible to dock your boat here!

Mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle’s view on sustainable transportation

January 15, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Active Transportation Alliance executive director Ron Burke wrote a blog on Friday (January 14, 2011) about his meeting with mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle (the current Chicago City Clerk).

Despite those caveats, he talked about his fondness for bicycling, its importance to the city and how his son is an avid cyclist. He also talked about one of the reasons he opposes the city’s parking meter contract, and has joined a lawsuit to overturn it: It’s because it limits the city’s ability to take away parking spaces for building bike lanes and sidewalks, and slowing traffic. We [Active Trans] share these concerns! [emphasis mine]

This meshes with a report Active Transportation Alliance released in June 2009 but recalled parts of the report five months later. But the message that report gave us remains true today and Miguel del Valle is repeating it. Margo O’Hare wrote announcing the report:

This limits any potential projects that use streets with metered spaces: bus rapid transit, bicycle lanes, street festivals, sidewalk expansion, streetscaping, pedestrian bulb-outs, loading zones, rush hour parking control, mid-block crossing, and temporary open spaces. The City’s ability to use streets in fresh, people-centric ways is now dictated, controlled and limited by the arrangements and penalties within the parking meters lease.

In November 2009, the Chicago Reader reported how the Active Transportation Alliance was going to release a new version of the report. Mick Dumke wrote:

Yet Monday night the Active Transportation Alliance inducted Mayor Daley into its “hall of fame,” and the group will soon release a new version of the report—screened beforehand by city officials—that will recant many of the criticisms it made in June.

Said Rob Sadowsky, “On behalf of the Active Transportation Alliance, I would like to simply state that we should not have published this report. I am embarrassed that it not only contains factual errors, but that it also paints an incorrect interpretation of the lease’s overall goals.” Regardless of any errors or misinterpretations, the original report’s essence will prove to be correct and foretelling: The City lost control over its own streets, the most basic and widely used element of neighborhoods and our  transportation system.

I look forward to voting for a mayoral candidate who opposes Mayor Richard M. Daley’s parking meter “lockout” with Morgan Stanley and other investors.

Along with the parking meter lease came the removal of approximately 30,000 high-quality bike parking spaces.

I’ve written a few times about the mayoral election, including the two forums I’ve been to (one at UIC about the economy and higher education, and the second about public school systems at the Chicago Teachers Union).

A place to rest

January 14, 2011 / / 0 Comments

While in Copenhagen this past weekend for about 60 hours, I hung out with Mikael of Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic.

After several drinks in a classy basement restaurant, we took a little tour of some neat bicycling infrastructure and “landed” on this hand and foot rest for people waiting at the light. This nifty device means you don’t have to take your feet off the pedals or you can use it as a launch pad.

The message on the foot rest says, “Hi, cyclist! Rest your foot here… and thank you for cycling in the city.”

Mikael has written much more about how cyclists in Copenhagen “hold on” to their city.

(When I passed it on Monday morning, I saw a leftover high heel shoe hanging on the footrest. Did somebody lose it or is someone trying to make a joke?)

Photos by Mikael.