Tiger Sanitation held its first city wide bulk trash pickup on March 19, 2016. The collection skipped over a large portion of the city, leaving heaps of trash all along city streets.
Quarterly bulk pickup was part of the contract Tiger Sanitation offered the city in the fall of 2015 when the City Council accepted proposals from various companies. The Council decided on Tiger Sanitation, making it the only trash company that could provide service to citizens inside the city limits.
Related: Council Chooses City Wide Trash Company
On the day of the bulk pickup, residents in the city watched as the Tiger Sanitation truck passed their house and didn’t stop to pick up their garbage. Some reports claim that Tiger stopped and picked up trash from people who weren’t customers, but skipped over people who actually were.
Angela Sanchez said her husband Fred even offered to help the Tiger Sanitation workers load their trash into the trash truck, but they refused the help and refused to take the trash.
Mayor Micki Ball answered complaints on social media accounts, blaming people for not following the rules of the pickup by setting out items that were too large or couldn’t be collected, such as tires.
Multiple people posted complaints , but Mayor Ball attacked one person in particular. Simone Miller, a wheelchair bound, disabled veteran, posted the following:
Mayor Ball responded by saying that what Miller had to say was “silly.”
Ball has stated that Tiger is planning a second bulk pick up on March 26, 2016 for those skipped in the first round.
None of the residents knew the bulk pick up guidelines before the vote. Others didn’t know we were a city, much less, a One person asking the representative if they had the capability to pick up bulk garbage responded, oh yes, if we have to, we will get a pick-up with two or three guys to follow the trucks and assist the driver with loading. When asked if they owned enough of a fleet to handle the task, again the response was , oh yes.
The people in the community did their job. The city leaders failed. These leaders can not coordinate a wardrobe, much less the activities of small city.
In my educated opinion, before the contract was finalized, all these issues should have been addressed. Did the leaders, not have the common sense to ask what kind of items would NOT be picked up? Were there going to be ANY limitations? Duh!!!
If, after finding, I had made a stupid deal on a bulk contract restricting tires, electronics, and construction materials, I think I would have thought to bring in flat bed trailers to the park for residents to dispose of those sorted items. All the city had to do, was check with the TCEQ office to find out where to dispose of those items and direct the drivers of the flatbeds to those locations. A construction material container could have been brought in for the construction materials. It was all an easy fix, but these leaders can not admit failure and do what is right for its citizens.
The above solutions I suggest, would have cost the city money, but then, it was their failure. The residents readily cleaned their yards and expected bulk pick-up. Many of the items in the heaps are in the guideline of acceptable items. What went wrong? Now look at the city in any direction. It is dumpier than it was before. The eyesore piles of garbage are now in clear view on all streets. My visitors are really impressed! I am taking video every week to show the tax office when I appeal my property value.
Does anyone know what to expect in June? Will Tiger remedy the problem? Will the city leaders do something?
Guess who the city blames for this problem? Yep! You got it! The residents.
Now we are told, it is the responsibility of the property owner to get rid of the bulk garbage. Maybe I am confused. Residents living pay check to pay check, barely making ends meet, in many instances, had a contract they did not want, forced down their throats, an now have to pay to haul this junk to a city dump or be fined, while also paying Tiger Sanitation for a service that isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
If these are our leaders, I wouldn’t follow too close, they have much to be desired.