Comments on The Burd Report: Sunday #3

Ben, you should get down to King St on a morning w...

2009-11-20T08:46:00.193-05:00

Ben, you should get down to King St on a morning when pick up happens downtown. It happens Friday -- today -- and one other day.

In words, here's how it looks: someone from the waste management company goes through and unlocks ALL the new urban street furniture and lets the whole front drop open to a 45 degree angle, left hanging there by the chains. Then later the truck comes along and empties everything. Then someone comes along and puts the liners back in and they get closed back up.

King St looks darn ugly with 15 - 20 bins hanging open exposing all the inner workings of these "painted sepluchres." It is painfully hilarious and worthy of a pic.

So, if what the previous poster said is correct, t...

2009-11-19T15:20:02.082-05:00

So, if what the previous poster said is correct, then regardless of whether the 60 day trial fails or passes, the town gets to take the currently installed receptacles out and replace them with the old ones or at best, different ones. Of course, that will be at the same "no cost to the town" rate as the first go-round.

Before you dismiss these costs as minor, it's actually about the fact that someone speaking to the media, for the town, said, and so expects us to accept, that there really is no cost to the town, for this. It must therefore raise the question of fiscal sloppiness and/or ineptitude in some departments and portfolios. Maybe they need another consultant to help figure it out.

The news item in Northumberland Today says the Tow...

2009-11-18T08:52:11.443-05:00

The news item in Northumberland Today says the Town is looking for feedback. Well then, the Town staff should not be redirecting feedback to the DBIA.

The NT item also states that the boxes we see during the 60 day trial period do not have as much of a heritage look as the ones that would be on permanent display if it all goes through. Well, they could hardly have less of a heritage look and isn't this a little like saying, "Oh, you want to adopt a baby from Romania. Okay. Take this golden lab retriever into your home for 60 days to see how it works out. If you like that, we'll get you an actual baby."

People going into Victoria Hall to ask Town of Cob...

2009-11-17T08:39:39.643-05:00

People going into Victoria Hall to ask Town of Cobourg staff about the stainless steel invasion are told it is a DBIA initiative and to ask them. Going to the DBIA produces the answer that it is a Town council choice.

However, DBIA members tell me that they know there was an array of choices of how these boxes "look" and at least 2 of the options have a "heritage theme" and would be more suitable.

Why weren't they used? Apparently they would be a little more expensive.

Personally, if we are to have them, I want a more heritage look.

The trucks that pass through downtown Cobourg twice a week do not have that "one-stop" separation, by the way. Two days a week, two separate trips go through downtown: the 1st picks up garbage, the 2nd picks up recycling material. In fact, there was a 3rd: a supervisor's pickup truck that came by afterwards to put garbage bags in the town garbage recepticles -- black, circular with metal ribs going up and down. Apparently the guys on the truck waste too much time replacing the liner bags.

In my travels today I happened to notice that ther...

2009-11-16T16:26:58.850-05:00

In my travels today I happened to notice that there are four of the garish monsters at King and Division alone. Then, at the post office, I noticed two almost adjacent ones on the northwest corner of Queen and McGill. Eventually, I guess, they will be lined up like a row of clunky beads along every downtown street, much like the endless arrays of parking meters which now line almost every boulevard near the park. Say, do you remember when the mayor and his henchmen promised all of us who worked and donated to save the the old Chateau Hotel property from condo development that they would never allow parking meters to detract from that expensive parkland? Now we have meters everywhere, and big grey advertising boxes to boot. What next, advertising placards surrounding the concrete wasteland known as the frink? Welcome to Oshawa.

I'm still laughing uncontrollably (my side is ...

2009-11-16T14:18:35.190-05:00

I'm still laughing uncontrollably (my side is hurting) at the comment by Town staff about strict observance of "Heritage" issues such as font and colour of typefaces used in advertisements, while oddly enough the "heritage" design and materials of the 'billboard' appear to be irrelevant, as do the type faces of the current Ecomedia ads.

"at no cost to the town" implies that the guys installing and removing the new and old waste receptacles are doing it for free or are being paid by Ecomedia - interesting slant on farming out local labour too.

60 days takes us to mid-January - removing AND rep...

2009-11-16T13:48:36.743-05:00

60 days takes us to mid-January - removing AND replacing them will be a challenge worth watching.

In Toronto the pick-up trucks are designed for eac...

2009-11-16T13:00:40.786-05:00

In Toronto the pick-up trucks are designed for each recycle category: glas section, paper & general waste. Needs only one truck pick-up per day or whatever the rhythmn is.

Cobourg gets to veto any advertiser too because th...

2009-11-16T09:45:27.136-05:00

Cobourg gets to veto any advertiser too because they don't want out of town advertisements on display.

http://bit.ly/4e0nbw

And town employees are going up and down King St t...

2009-11-16T09:12:42.563-05:00

And town employees are going up and down King St taking out the existing heritage black metal waste bins. I guess they are going to storage. Welcome to the world of urban street furniture.

Who empties them? The same waste company that emptied the black twice weekly?

Do they actually keep recyclables separated? Wouldn't that mean opening the new boxes twice each day of pickup? Different trucks swing through for garbage and recycling.

They only have one screw securing them as It is on...

2009-11-15T19:53:50.906-05:00

They only have one screw securing them as It is only a 60 day trial. Also the company will be looking after the advertising,

I am not claiming the idea, it's a good one an...

2009-11-15T14:48:34.181-05:00

I am not claiming the idea, it's a good one and should be widely held.

Sometimes goodwill produces profit. Pity that it i...

2009-11-15T14:46:07.661-05:00

Sometimes goodwill produces profit. Pity that it is privately owned. Great idea Ben.

I did notice that the bin I took a close look at w...

2009-11-15T14:43:18.872-05:00

I did notice that the bin I took a close look at was only secured to the ground with one screw not four, on its base. Are they expecting to take them ouot?

It isn't going to happen. The same type of app...

2009-11-15T14:42:22.141-05:00

It isn't going to happen. The same type of approach to advertising on the bins was tried in Cramahe, to no avail. Ecomedia wants real dollars, not in-kind stuff. Only one of the 20 some odd bins in Cramahe has advertising, and it's been nearly seven months since they were installed. Don't waste your editorial time trying to get this "ecofriendly" company to donate space to artists or other non profit types. The experiment has failed in Cramahe; it will fail miserably in Cobourg.