Opinion: Thanks to STR crew for cleaning up after a bear
To the community,
Last night was trash night. My dog was up all night barking at the bears.
This morning when I went out to get the paper my trash was all over the place. After the trash pick up, almost all of the trash was gone.
We do have the best trash pick up crew I have ever seen. Thanks fellows.
David Dewitt, South Lake Tahoe
why do you put your trash out at night and create an ‘attractive nuisance’ that the str guys have to clean up, subsidized, of course, by the rest of us?
It was very nice of Mr. Dewitt to complement the service that STR provides and I agree it is great, but STR refuse collectors shouldn’t have to clean up his trash. Dewitt should get up early in the morning and take his trash out to help prevent attracting bears to his neighborhood where other people may also live and to help prevent making bears a serious nuisance and subject to possible euthanasia.
When you went out and got your paper?
Why didn’t you pick your own trash?
again, my point. this is how the ‘bear problem’ is perpetuated…
Forget when they put the trash out..The guys at STR do an outstanding job!
I will be 80 years ole this year and some mornings it is a chore to get up at all much less at 5 in the morning to put out my trash i just wanted to thank the crew on the truck for there good job.
David, I understand it’s difficult to get up early sometimes. But if you can’t do that you owe it to your neighbors (and the bears) to have a bear box installed. What you are doing is a huge problem for all of us!! Please!!
Mr. Dewitt:
Congratulations on reaching the age of 80. I’m slightly younger than that and can appreciate that it’s sometimes a “bear” (pun intended) doing what young folks find really easy. Bette Davis was right—old age isn’t for sissys! And STR does do an outstanding job!
Best wishes for good health.
STR does a great job. I know they appreciate it when folks invest in Bear-proof trashcans. Not expensive and they work.
Dogula is right, Get a bear box Dewitt, save our bears and keep your neighborhood clean.
As far as STR, I’m missing something. First off they are supposed to write a citation for trash problem houses, was one written for Dewitt? And if the problem
persists, a bear box is mandatory. This is also to keep our bears safe on out of the trash.
Next, it seems that half the time str leaves my house, they have missed the bucket on the truck and left trash in the street. I’m don’t mean a lot, just enough to piss me off. I have one of the cleanest lots in my neighborhood, I pick up trash all the time while I am walking and I don’t appreciate str leaving trash behind. And it’s not animals, I have a bear proof can.
It’s not always bears in the trash. My trash is picked up at 5 am too, and sorry, I get little sleep as it is and am not up at that hour. On top of good cans I also douse my trash with Pine Sol and/or bleach and it works. I just learned that raccoons don’t like baby powder..I’ll now sprinkle that on top of the lid on trash night as well.
So we have bears, raccoons, AND coyotes as well as the occasional neighborhood dog getting into garbage.
The point is, one time, MAYBE twice, we can slip up on our garbage. Repeatedly, NO!! If you know you have a problem it is your legal responsibility, as well as your moral responsibility to respect your neighbors’ rights as well. If you can afford it, get a bear box. If you can’t, at least get a bear-resistent screw top garbage can. Those only cost $100.
It looks like to me not only is there an animal problem, but the pick-up time is a problem as well, and this has been argued before. If SLT is so great, why can’t they pick up a few hours later. I’ve called the office in the past around 1pm and was told all the pick up people are gone for the day. So why can’t they pick up starting at 8 or 9 and still finish by 4. STL only wants it their way at their price.
Oh yeah, a later pick-up time, would keep trash off the streets over night and keep animals out of our trash.
Oops, that should have been STR, So. Tahoe Refuse.
Steven, I actually got that answer last week. Highway 50 and all of the support streets get too much traffic after 10 for them to do their job safely. When the trucks have to pick up the large bins at the hotels, motels, stores, apartments,etc, they need to back up and stop on major streets.
That makes sense but I’d still like to see it later.
This must be a different crew, the ones on my
street look through my trash and thumb through
the Victoria Secret catalogs…weirdos
Pathetic.
I think that it’s great the the South Tahoe Refuse men were thanked. They obviously know their clientele and were doing “The looking after thing”. Mr. Dewitt, you’re the best! It’s not often people publicly thank the Refuse men for the all thoughtful things they do for us.
I agree with Billie and others. We have no idea if had never happened in 200 years of if it is a regular occurrence at his house. The crew was helping “watching out” for a neighbor who needed help and I am glad for that. Some of my neighbors do unrequested chores for an elderly couple who live nearby. We praise them for that. I will still praise the crew even if it wasn’t in their job description, it is in the job description of being a good human. If it cost me an additional 3 cents to have them do, I don’t care. Mr. Dewitt please don’t let this stop you from giving public praise in the future.
Mr. Dewitt, excause me, if you saw the mess when you got the paper then – WHY – didn’t you go out and pick it up yourself??????
AT least you thanked the STR crew.
But next time, It is your garbage, try putting it out when you get the paper. You can avoid a mess for everyone.
Is Dewitt sure it was the STR crew that cleaned up? For those that don’t know, each homeowner pays $20 per year on your tax bill to support Clean Tahoe. One of their trucks follows around the trash trucks and picks up after the trash crews. Is this ridiculous or what?
On the positive side of Clean Tahoe, you can call them and they will clean up trash on the roads in both county and city and they can also issue citations.
Bears can be very “neat” raiders. I once saw one sitting and carefully sorting through my garbage.(I had forgotten to use my “formula”.) Raccoons make a real mess.My “formula” was a)put bag of dog poop on top b)spray bleach inside, quickly close lid c)spray outside with some Lysol.No animals bothered my garbage.
When I lived in Tahoe I did a lot of pickup -of garbage left out for days by weekend visitors. If you have such a neighbor, offer to put their garbage out for them.Worked for me and is a lot less work than picking up after the fact.
I’d be happy to chip in for a bear proof can for this older fella. I’d hate to see him on the “wall of shame” for creating a trash issue and potentially killing a bear. Plus, he’ll probably make it to 90 if he doesn’t have to awaken all night once a week. Contact me, sir.
I have enjoyed reading all the responses. Kudos to any and all who pick up their own and others’ trash. Just an additional thought. I have observed more trash mess from the ravens. They know how to get loose can tops off and usually it’s the people who don’t even put a lid on it. No excuse!!!
There are many circumstances like Mr. Dewitt’s, where the refuse company comes in the middle of the night and as he is a senior citizen this chore is really a challenge – so I have an idea – Maybe Tahoe Refuse should offer a senior citizen bear box program for the local Seniors. Many Seniors don’t use much waste like the vacation rentals, they live on a very limited fixed income, and it is stressful just getting the trash to the curb before the Truck rushes by on STR changing schedule (yes, it is dark when they used to come to my house, however several weeks ago they changed their route time without notice and now come 2 hours later) – STR could use a percentage of the blue bag contents to pay for the boxes for new senior citizen bear box program. What a community benefit that would be!
Jm—What are you talking about? Vacation rentals not making much garbage? The 4 that surround me make so much garbage the bear boxes are over flowing! And that’s not all of the garbage, how about all the cups, plastic bags, food containers, q-tips, that cover the street every week. Vacation rentals are the worst!
As far as recyclables for bear boxes, why not for all of us? And if STR got more out of that pile below their sorting belt, they could buy everyone a bear box. STR only recycles the minimum, I don’t care what anyone says. And what about the mostly unused recycling building we all paid for. It basicly sits empty. Why? Oh yeah, by raising our rates to pay for that building, ok’d by the city and county, the city and county get a bigger kick back. Did you all know that? Why else would you think STR gets every raise in rates they have ever requested. It is just another way for the city to make some money. Raise our trash rates some more, and the city could do away with the parking meters!!
STEVEN – If you reread what I wrote, many seniors don’t use much garbage like vacation rentals – I agree with you! My point was that Tahoe Seniors don’t typically produce a lot of waste, UNLIKE vacation rentals – STR could put in a small bear box for those – I BELIEVE THAT VACATION RENTALS ARE ALREADY SUPPOSED TO HAVE A BEAR BOX AS OF MAY 2010!
Thank you Miss Frugal, that is very kind! Random acts of kindness could go to garbage…watch out for your neighbors that can’t otherwise take care of it.
I appreciate Mr. Dewitt’s praise of STR.
I too commend South Tahoe Refuse for the great job they do in trash collection.
@ Steven: STR does not issue citations or notices, they just pick it up and move to the next property. Clean Tahoe performs neighborhood tours and picks up trash but does not directly “follow the South Tahoe Refuse truck around” to pick up what they miss but rather hours after they have left the neighborhood.
Clean Tahoe Program is a community funded-non-profit that started as a city commission in 1988 so that illegal dumping and trash problems, outside of weekly collection, could be addressed. Every resident pays $1.20 per quarter ($3.80 per year) to fund the cleaning up of the public (roadside, public domain) areas of the city and county of South lake Tahoe(192 tons of trash last year.) This charge is posted on your refuse bill. In addition, if you are a property owner, $3.00 of your property taxes also goes to trash abatement) This equals $7.80 per year per household and has been the same rate since 2004. We also address illegal dumping, assist residents in taking items to the dump, issue notices to properties with bulk items (appliances, mattresses, etc.) on private property and to properties where animals have access to trash.
For more info: http://www.clean-tahoe.org
Ellen Flynn,
Program Manager
Clean Tahoe