Trash talkin', traffic calming, and other Durham goodies
I've been so busy this week, that i've fallen a bit behind in posting things i wanted to talk about. Let's try to catch up.
Earlier in the week, Ray Gronberg over at the HeraldSun posted a bit about the new city budget. Kevin did a good job analyzing some of the Parks and Rec stuff in the budget. I was more intrigued by the mention of "seed money" for creating a universal yard waste program.
Brief background - a few years ago the city switched to a subscription based yard waste pickup program. It's illegal in the state of North Carolina to mix yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, small branches, etc.) with regular household waste. So you pay 40 bucks or so for a separate brown yard waste cart, and then on top of that, you pay another 60 bucks every year to have the city pick up your yard waste. Participation in the program has averaged around 20 - 25% of Durham's households. Being generous, this means that at least 70% of Durham's yard waste is either being illegally mixed in with regular waste, swept out into the streets to clog our storm drains, or illegally dumped somewhere. I've long been a proponent of rolling yard waste pickup back into the tax program, and picking up everyone's yard waste, without forcing them to pay a separate fee.
Ray's article wasn't too clear on how this is going to work, so i emailed Donald Long, Director of the Solid Waste Management Department, to get some details. Let me share what Mr. Long said.
This is pretty good news, and an important step in keeping our streams, creeks, and stormwater drains open and flowing, and helping to clean up our town. Thank you, Donald Long.
Kevin and Michael both had things to say about the Indy's Best of the Triangle Annual, which came out this week, and especially Bob Geary's interesting article about Durham. Michael manages to wax philosophical about growing old while realizing that Bob has discovered a happening part of the Durham scene that he didn't know about. Good stuff.
He's right, to a point, that Bob didn't get to a lot of what makes Durham a great place to live.
I'd like to think that my little conversation with Bob, which extended far beyond the intivation to the Beaver Queen Pageant, and included a plea to not make Durham look too good because we don't necessarily want too many Raleigh folks clogging up our restaurants and bars, had something to do with that.
Finally, once again over at Kevin's, a new commenter has been making some rather inane remarks about urban and suburban lifestyles, and his particular right to make any neighborhood street in the downtown area his own personal speedway.
I'm not really sure how to say this any more clearly. Public streets in the urban areas of town are supposed to be shared among all users, not just those in motor vehicles. We have some serious design issues with some of our urban streets, which create safety issues for people on foot, in wheelchairs, pushing strollers, etc. In other words, a large number of people who use the streets. The problem is that the design of a number of these streets encourages drivers to use them at speeds that are not safe for people out of cars. Putting up some signs to tell drivers to slow down only goes so far. If people in all parts of Durham weren't concerned and, to be honest, pissed off by people driving too fast through their neighborhoods, we probably wouldn't need to be spending lots of money on traffic calming devices and other measures to get folks like MarcusOne to slow the fuck down.
It's your choice to live in northern Durham if you want. And your choice to work in RTP or Chapel Hill if you want. But that choice doesn't come with the right to treat other people's residential streets as though they were freeways. Don't try to shave 3 minutes off of your 30 minute commute by doing 50 mph on a residential 30 mph street. And don't try to argue that it's selfish of the people whose lives you are putting at risk when they take steps to slow your ass down.
That's just stupidity.
Earlier in the week, Ray Gronberg over at the HeraldSun posted a bit about the new city budget. Kevin did a good job analyzing some of the Parks and Rec stuff in the budget. I was more intrigued by the mention of "seed money" for creating a universal yard waste program.
Brief background - a few years ago the city switched to a subscription based yard waste pickup program. It's illegal in the state of North Carolina to mix yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, small branches, etc.) with regular household waste. So you pay 40 bucks or so for a separate brown yard waste cart, and then on top of that, you pay another 60 bucks every year to have the city pick up your yard waste. Participation in the program has averaged around 20 - 25% of Durham's households. Being generous, this means that at least 70% of Durham's yard waste is either being illegally mixed in with regular waste, swept out into the streets to clog our storm drains, or illegally dumped somewhere. I've long been a proponent of rolling yard waste pickup back into the tax program, and picking up everyone's yard waste, without forcing them to pay a separate fee.
Ray's article wasn't too clear on how this is going to work, so i emailed Donald Long, Director of the Solid Waste Management Department, to get some details. Let me share what Mr. Long said.
What was adopted (well, almost pending the June 18th official vote) is not a yard waste program, but a comprehensive program for all curbside collections. I
think it played out as a yard waste program because this is the aspect making the most dramatic change. We will collect curbside household solid waste, bulky item, bulky brush, and yard waste effective Sept. 1, 2008. It is taxed based program-no fees. The yard waste fee will stop sometime between Jan. 2008 and March 2008. We are still brainstorming the possibility of refunds.
In regards to yard waste carts, it will be the same as solid waste carts, we provide the first one and the citizen pays for any cart after that.
This is pretty good news, and an important step in keeping our streams, creeks, and stormwater drains open and flowing, and helping to clean up our town. Thank you, Donald Long.
Kevin and Michael both had things to say about the Indy's Best of the Triangle Annual, which came out this week, and especially Bob Geary's interesting article about Durham. Michael manages to wax philosophical about growing old while realizing that Bob has discovered a happening part of the Durham scene that he didn't know about. Good stuff.
He's right, to a point, that Bob didn't get to a lot of what makes Durham a great place to live.
I'd like to think that my little conversation with Bob, which extended far beyond the intivation to the Beaver Queen Pageant, and included a plea to not make Durham look too good because we don't necessarily want too many Raleigh folks clogging up our restaurants and bars, had something to do with that.
Finally, once again over at Kevin's, a new commenter has been making some rather inane remarks about urban and suburban lifestyles, and his particular right to make any neighborhood street in the downtown area his own personal speedway.
I'm not really sure how to say this any more clearly. Public streets in the urban areas of town are supposed to be shared among all users, not just those in motor vehicles. We have some serious design issues with some of our urban streets, which create safety issues for people on foot, in wheelchairs, pushing strollers, etc. In other words, a large number of people who use the streets. The problem is that the design of a number of these streets encourages drivers to use them at speeds that are not safe for people out of cars. Putting up some signs to tell drivers to slow down only goes so far. If people in all parts of Durham weren't concerned and, to be honest, pissed off by people driving too fast through their neighborhoods, we probably wouldn't need to be spending lots of money on traffic calming devices and other measures to get folks like MarcusOne to slow the fuck down.
It's your choice to live in northern Durham if you want. And your choice to work in RTP or Chapel Hill if you want. But that choice doesn't come with the right to treat other people's residential streets as though they were freeways. Don't try to shave 3 minutes off of your 30 minute commute by doing 50 mph on a residential 30 mph street. And don't try to argue that it's selfish of the people whose lives you are putting at risk when they take steps to slow your ass down.
That's just stupidity.
Labels: Durham, idiots, Traffic calming, trash
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
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