Initially, the City replaced the concrete garbage bin in front of the Palisades Library with a blue bin, because they didn’t have any black ones available.
Photo: David Kidd, At-Large Life Coach
Of the Palisades Library; PPCC Gets Involved
As reported by Circling the News on September 9, two members of the Friends of the Palisades Library board, Laura Schneider and Nina Kidd, were appalled by the overflowing trash bin on Alma Real, in front of the library.
The “orphan” bin was no longer being emptied by Chrysalis workers, through the Business Improvement District, because it was outside the area. The BID, which was created in 2016, requires property owners to pay an assessment. Some of that money goes to trash pickup.
Fearful that the overflowing trash was rapidly becoming a health hazard, Kidd called the Department of Sanitation and asked if they could pick it up. She was told that this particular trash container was not on their list, although the one a block away in front of the post office is (but is not emptied by the City).
On August 29, Kidd and Schneider emptied the trash themselves and subsequently carried out trash duty for several weeks. In addition, an employee from the Palisades Pit Stop cleaned and sanitized the concrete bin and the Friends arranged with a Palisades PRIDE gardener to remove the trash.
Then the Pacific Palisades Community Council became involved. PPCC Secretary Chris Spitz contacted L.A. Sanitation’s Bill Musselman and wrote in a September 12 email: “We have decided that we would like the City/Sanitation to remove the old concrete bin and replace it with the black ALB as soon as possible, with trash collection by Sanitation to occur weekly (or more, depending on the level of trash that you find).”
Sanitation replaced the more aesthetically pleasing bin with a blue recyclable bin because the black trash bins were out of stock. They have since placed the black bin on the street.
On September 13, Musselman replied: “We will be able to swap the bins on Monday morning. We will start with two times a week collection. I can have the can emptied tomorrow to help alleviate the mess until we make the swap. I hope this helps.”
Circling the News wondered, if a City trash truck comes twice a week to empty this one trash bin, perhaps the person could empty a few more bins in the area?
We emailed Spitz and she replied on September 19: “It’s my understanding that the BID handles trash collection for all or most of these bins (although they didn’t handle the one adjacent to the library, which apparently is outside the BID area boundaries). You might want to check with the BID for more information about their trash collection schedule/procedures/policy.”
Regarding the plastic black bin now on the street, Spitz wrote: “The City informed us that they only collect from automated litter bins (such as the one now installed adjacent to the library). I don’t know the City’s collection policy if a BID is already doing collection in an area. If the City were to take over from the BID (assuming that would even be possible or desirable), they’d have to replace all the old bins (whether decorative or wire or concrete) with the plastic ‘ALBs,’ which (IMHO) aren’t particularly attractive. I have no idea whether that would be acceptable to the BID (or to PRIDE, which I believe donated the decorative metal bins), or for that matter, to the community. But these are questions in the first instance for those organizations.”
Sue-Thanks for the photo credit. Being an At Large Life Coach is a bit of a family joke but when I tell people that’s what I do it always elicits a serious response. Only in the Sades.