It seems now that the County Council has solved the "Chicken Problem".......Oh, I forgot, they didn't, because after who knows how many hours of debate, they figured out that the "Chicken Ordinance" was so convoluted and unworkable they shoveled it off to another agency to wrestle with it.
Now that we fixed that lets get to the real important stuff like....."Garbage Cans". Apparently there has been a longstanding problem up Emigration Canyon on this front. Canyon residents have not been using proper garbage can etiquette by putting them out too soon and leaving them out too long. The roads up the canyon don't make pickup easy because in some areas the trucks just can't get to them. This means that residents must lug them to a spot that might be some distance from their house. All this has caused problems because residents have not been putting them out and retrieving them in a timely fashion causing some to complain and problems for bicyclists who run into them. What, are you blind? If you're riding a bicycle and can't see a garbage can and run into it, it might be time to leave the bicycle in the garage.
To the rescue comes first year Councilwoman Jani Iwamoto who offered up a new ordinance that could fine lazy residents, who don't abide by the new rules, up to $750. Councilwoman Iwamoto says that there would be a three-strikes rule and the third strike could bring the Sheriff to your door with a ticket. This ordinance would be in effect for the entire county sanitation district, even though it is aimed primarily at Emigration Canyon. Like the Sheriff's Dept. doesn't have enough to do and can add garbage patrol to their duties.
The rules are simple, 1. Place your can on the curb no sooner than the evening before your collection day. (they don't specify what constitutes "evening." What if I put the can out in the morning before I go to work because I might be coming home late, or leaving for the day to conduct business out of state and won't be back until two days later?)
2. Make sure your can extends no farther than four feet into the street. (if I put my garbage can 4 feet into the street it would cause untold crashes, as my street is fairly narrow to begin with.) 3. Retrieve your can the same day it is emptied. (refer to rule #1 and the problem of leaving town for a day or two).
Then there is the issue with holidays. How do we know what holidays the garbage schedule observes and which one's they don't? Flag Day, MLK Day, Veterans Day etc.
Come to find out that Councilwoman Iwamoto is working with Emigration officials to have some community dumpster's in place so residents there wouldn't have to hassle with their cans. If this is being solved in the area it is a problem why are you passing this new ordinance in the first place?
What if you have a neighbor who travels a lot and you don't like him. I could put my can in front of his house for a week and call in complaints. HAHAHAHA! Gotcha. O. K. that was mean. Why don't they just fix the Emigration Canyon problem and forget the countywide ordinance garbage?