This is my second letter to the editor within a year and a half to voice continuing frustration and disappointment over the persistent failure and unwillingness of the Lake Bluff Village Board to enforce its ordinance that requires garbage and recycling materials to be placed for pick-up in the approved and closed garbage and recycling containers. Instead, residents are permitted to place all manner of refuse on Village parkways without consequence, even though there are supposed to be fines imposed for doing so. Not only are there no fines; the Village won’t even have Groot issue warning notices to offenders!
My previous correspondence with the Board and multiple appearances at their public meetings have met with non-committal responses and absolutely no action. The Board and its “Sustainability Committee” have consumed staff time and spent countless hours on the inconsequential subjects of bees and chickens; but they can’t carry out the most basic municipal function of picking up garbage without preventing residents from polluting the Village landscape with garbage tossed out on public parkways – of which the pictures from the east side of town today (May 22, 2018) are just a few examples of what happens every week.
Permitting open containers and additional garbage to be placed on parkways in violation of the Village ordinance has two negative effects – (1) a highly unsightly appearance and (2) substantial additional litter on our streets and parkways resulting from the loose material blowing through our neighborhoods.
After raising this issue on numerous occasions with the Board and staff over a period of years while making a daily habit of picking up litter myself, I have little hope that the Village will actually enforce its ordinance – unless perhaps they hear from DailyNorthShore readers in sufficient numbers. The Village and Board seem to think I’m the only one who cares about this issue and don’t want to offend the people who can’t be bothered to take their excess refuse to the very convenient public works facility rather than throwing it out on the parkways.
So if you happen to agree that residents should not be permitted to dump their garbage on the streetscape in the manner shown in these pictures and that the ordinance requiring garbage to be placed in the secure containers should be enforced, please let Village President Kathy O’Hara and the Board members hear from you. And if you happen to have a green license plate proclaiming your concern for the environment, make sure they hear from you.
You can do this most easily by sending an email to Village Administrator Drew Irvin at [email protected] and asking that your message be shared with the Board members. Thank you.
David Barkhausen
Lake Bluff
“Isn’t it great how life in Lake Bluff is such that we can fret about curb trash rather than violent crime? ”
There have been at least three armed robberies in Lake Bluff during the last calendar year; two remain unsolved. There have also been numerous car thefts. This ain’t Mayberry, Carl.
And as to the trash issue, for as expensive as it is to live here, the Village needs to be more vigiland regarding citing residents for violating trash pickup rules regarding oversized items or trash left outside of the carts, which attracts vermin. Doesn’t seem like too much to ask, given that low crime rate.
If we’re talking about folks who leave bags of trash directly on the ground, or recidivists with a curbside that regularly has a mountain of trash, then I agree that the village should be taking action. That’s not sanitary. But it’s a bridge too far to hammer residents with fines because they break down a few shipping boxes and leave them next to the recycling container for pickup. There’s a reasonable middle ground to be found here.
Peg, even with the incidents you allude to, Lake Bluff is still indeed “a bubble” – at least East of “the tracks”… Do we want our police force trying to solve and prevent those things, or cruising the East side issuing trash citations? The fact that some in our community can get so worked up about an issue like this is further evidence of our bubble environment…
Instead of the standard two trash barrels, and a handful of “un-barreled” trash piles, we would be looking at 4-6 trash barrels per household or even those commercial dumpsters. Is that a level of improvement worthy of all this hyperbole?
Isn’t it great how life in Lake Bluff is such that we can fret about curb trash rather than violent crime? By the way, per the official published waste collection policy of Groot and Lake Bluff, Groot will pick up one bulky item per household on the regular trash day each week of the year. So, one could put a chair or end table for example at the curb each and every week, and would be in compliance with the rules. I have driven many loads of refuse to the village public works facility, but I’ve also made use of the curb policy for large items. I appreciate that Lake Bluff is so accommodating to its residents.
I agree with David B. The semi-annual pickup is for large items like kiddy pools, large furniture, etc. In between times, residents can take their large items to the public works facility or to Goodwill, which has a very convenient drop off point in Libertyville (open every day) rather than dragging them to the curb. Also, I am amazed at the apparent disrespect for the Groot employees shown by residents who don’t bother to break down their cardboard shipping boxes and packaging materials, just leaving it all in a heap at the curb. Groot collects our garbage but they shouldn’t have to clean up all our messes. It reminds me of the people who leave their grocery carts in the middle of the Jewel parking lot, but that’s a rant for another time…
Mr. Barkhausen: Babies require diapers and wipes. Diapers and wipes are packaged in cardboard boxes. Sometimes those boxes do not fit neatly into a recycling container. Is it seriously your position that, if a cardboard box that does not fit into the recycling bin is folded and placed on the curb to be picked up, Groot should refuse to pick it up and a homeowner should be fined? Same for residents who just moved into their home, or celebrated Christmas; are you demanding that they refrain from breaking those boxes down and leaving them curbside to be picked up by the recycling service for which our tax dollars pay?
If your retort is that we should take oversized items to Public Works, for those of us who are at work from 8 am until 6 pm, when do you propose that we do so? Stay home from work to make a run to Public Works?
Demanding punitive action against citizens who are doing nothing more than using the waste and recycling service funded by our tax dollars is, as Mr. Grimmer already stated, patently unreasonable. I think we can all agree that our Village has some issues to address. This is not one of them.
Garbage needs to get picked up. Your complaint is unreasonable. For the photos you show here; what would you have residents do? I’ve not seen a receptacle that can hold a plastic kiddy pool or old piece of furniture.
We have a very lovely refuse park that these kinds of things can be taken to. Usually very friendly people there.
Thanks, David, for writing this. I have also written to the Village to complain in the past about this, and will do it again.