Residents protest garbage change

Residents living in the Corbin Park and Emerson-Garfield areas on the North Side are protesting a change in garbage service by the city of Spokane.

No longer will trucks pick up trash from alleys. Residents have been notified they will have to pack their garbage to the street in front of their houses starting Friday.

Gina McKenzie, who lives in the historic Corbin Park neighborhood, says the change will be an inconvenience and will create an eyesore.

“We’re trying to have a historic district and have things look nice,” she said in an interview last week.

“It seems like a lot of people aren’t going to be able to roll a 75-pound bin around the block,” she said. Some residents may not have a pathway on their property to roll the bins to the street, she said.

About 50 residents turned out at a Corbin Park meeting last week to organize opposition to the change, and they are circulating a petition.

City solid-waste officials say they are changing garbage service from alleys to front streets for about 2,200 customers on the North Side. Automated trucks are too large for alleys, which pose hazards such as overhead power lines, said Marlene Feist, city spokeswoman.

In a letter to affected residents, the city’s North Side residential garbage supervisor said several routes are getting new upgraded trucks that will not fit through alleys, and there is risk of property damage along the alleyways.

But McKenzie said alleys were built for the purpose of providing services, including garbage collection, and it is wrong to force people to haul their garbage bins to the street.

In addition, she said, trees along the streets could be damaged by the bigger trucks.

And if bins are not promptly returned to the home, criminals might deduce that residents are not home, McKenzie said.

Garbage trucks also have helped keep snow packed during the winter, and a single trip down an alley takes care of homes along two streets, she said.

Feist said the city’s solid-waste director has contacted McKenzie to discuss the issue.

“We are trying to be efficient and affordable,” Feist said.

Anyone who is disabled and cannot move a garbage bin to the front street should contact the city’s Solid Waste Department, which provides bin-moving service free of charge to elderly and disabled people under a city law requiring the service.

Also, anyone else can hire the department to move his or her garbage bin for a charge of $23.68 a month for distances of 50 to 100 feet. The charge is higher for longer distances.

To arrange the service, call 625-7874.