3-5-02

I swear, I don't know what's so tough about understanding the signs that are posted at the City's brush pile. I took the photo at the right on March 1, just before the major winter snow storm began. I don't know if you can make it out, but the middle sign says "No plastic bags," and, under it sits a stray flock of plastic garbage bags.

If you were to do a survey on the types of city services that people valued the most, I doubt that a city's brush pile would climb very high on the list. But, people use them. When you have a lot of yard waste, branches, or twigs and nowhere else to take them, the importance of a brush pile looms pretty large.

In some ways, we've gotten people to do a better job of not dumping junk on us. When the brush pile was at the Public Works Department, for example, we saw a lot more in the way of old washers and dryers, plastic, shingles, paint cans, etc.

The biggest problem with the brush pile's current location at the end of Birch Drive is that someone occasionally sets it on fire. That may not sound so bad until you realize that the Dept of Natural Resources prohibits such burning unless a city has a signed waiver from every property owner of land with inhabited buildings within a quarter-mile.

The other problem is that such fires can burn for months. They smoke out the employees of the businesses that are near the brush pile, and such vandalism wastes the time of our Public Works Dept and volunteer Fire Dept. The efforts of both departments are appreciated, but are often ineffective due to the nature of the fire. A lot of times, air pockets in the brush keep the embers alive until they kick up again. The best solution that we've come across so far is to hire a bulldozer at about $65 per hour to push dirt over the pile when it starts to flare up again.  In fact, you can see a bulldozer parked in the background of the photo above.

Illegal dumping is still a problem, too. Once in a while, we've managed to catch someone due to a report from the public.

Sometimes, the person that was caught will come to me in a sense of bewilderment as to why the City is pressing charges against him for illegal dumping. This is a typical conversation:

"I don't want you to press charges against me. People who know me will see it in the paper."

"Didn't you see the sign that says 'No Dumping' and the other one that says 'Yard Waste Only?'"

"Yeah, but I thought it was OK to dump there. Somebody told me I could."

"Who told you that?"

"Well. . . I don't want to get them in trouble, but they said I could."

"Why didn't you just call City Hall to see if you could do that. Don't you think that we'd know better than anyone else?"

"Well. . . all I put there was stuff that will burn anyway, like wood and paper."

"We're not allowed to burn."

"Oh… So, you're going to make an example out of me, aren't you?"

To that, the unfortunate answer is basically "YES." The chance of catching someone is so "hit-or-miss" that we have to do this in order to deter others who are thinking about dumping on us. If anyone should ever see someone either set a fire or illegally dump on the City, please tell us. Their vandalism is wasting your tax dollars.

In the next few weeks, our Public Works Director tells me that he intends to attach two red flags to either side of the current brush pile signs to see if that helps.

What's our next move after that?

I created a bit of a fashion stir at City Hall last week. I mentioned that I had spent part of the previous weekend on the Internet, looking for a clothing item for our 16-month old son.

One of the ladies at City Hall asked what I had been looking for.

"A poncho," I said.

Hoots and snorts dominated the next few minutes of the discussion. We have one person, in particular, that snorts more than hoots.

"I had a tough time," I said. "There aren't a lot of places that sell ponchos. I was even looking at a couple of web sites in Ecuador."

Their response was more of the same.

"You'll turn him into a geek," was the general reaction.

Well, I have news for you. I was probably a so-called "geek" in school, and I didn't need to wear a poncho to become one.

Besides, I wasn't going to send him out in one when he starts high school. I only wanted to try it for now, figuring that you can dress a little kid in almost anything, and people think it's cute.

The poncho-idea came to me as I was struggling to get Benjamin into his jacket one day. I thought, "Oh crud, there has to be a better way." Then, I thought that it might be easier just to drop what amounts to be a blanket with a head-opening in it over his sturdy, lil' body.

Typically, my wife buys Ben's clothes. I usually don't see what she's picked out for him until he's actually spitting up on it. I suppose that letting her continue to do this is the easier way.

Now, I guess I can forget about ordering the skimmer (straw hat) that I thought he'd look cool in.