Wanted: One Camera To Record Illegal Dumping

So, what is it with my back lane, and my dumpster in particular? Why do people drive their trucks down my lane? And why do they dump their garbage in my dumpster? Yesterday afternoon around 5:50pm I looked out my back window. I saw a white half ton truck stopped in behind my property. Of course I was curious. Who stopped behind the house? And what are they doing? I kept watching to see what was going on. Someone got out of the truck and jumped into the back of it. Then the truck drove ahead a few feet, and stopped at the dumpster in behind my yard. And the guy in the back of the truck dumped something from the truck into the dumpster. Then the truck moved on. I got a quick picture of the truck, told my husband there was someone in the lane dumping garbage, then got my shoes on and headed out to the lane.

Of course, by the time we got to the back lane, the truck was down the lane. It was stopping at each dumpster or so, and slowly emptying the contents of the truck into the dumpsters down my lane. Then it went down the next lane, and the next. It was too far away to get a good picture, and I was not able to catch up to it before it turned. I saw the truck turned left, so I cut over to the next street over. I wanted to try and catch the truck coming back down the street. But it came back as far as Salter, then turned up Salter Street. I wasn't able to get any real information on the truck or the dumpers.
I don't sit at my back window all day waiting for these people, so I can witness the actions and possibly catch these dumpers red handed. I just happen to be watering my plants in the window boxes and noticed someone dumping garbage. I am sure there are many more people driving down my back lane, and the other lanes in the North End, dumping much more garbage than I am witness to myself on a daily basis. And it seems these people are getting smarter. They have developed a fast moving system of dumping, that is difficult to document in a way that will allow me to submit the complaint to the By-Law department. As you know, I need a description of the dumpers and the license plate and vehicle description.
The thought has occurred to me that I should set up camera surveillance in order to catch these pesky garbage criminals. Or maybe the City should set it up. Oh who am I kidding, if the City cared they would have done that long ago. But I am thinking a camera is in order to get the needed evidence to stop these illegal dumpers from using my back lane as their land fill. Hmmm, I wonder what type of camera I should use. And where would I put it. Hmmm.

I Went For A Bicycle Ride Down The Back Lanes

I went for a bicycle ride down a few of the back lanes in my area. I went in the lanes between Main and Redwood to Mountain and McGregor.
There sure are a lot of bulky items in the lanes. I wrote down some basic information regarding each single block of back lanes, and I sent the information in to 311. I have requested that the items be picked up.
In the past I took pains to get the correct address of each dumpster, take a picture of the bulky items, and send the information, all neatly arranged, to 311. But since starting this, I have become aware that the bulky item information that I send to 311 is not forwarded to the people who actually pick the items up. It is not directly sent to the company that picks up the garbage.
The information I send to 311 is forwarded to a City Worker, who gets into his truck and drives down the lanes that I mention in my email. The City Worker verifies that the information I sent is correct. Only after the City Worker has verified my information is the request put through to the company that will pick up the garbage.
So I got to thinking. Why am I spending my time walking down back lanes, stopping and taking a picture of the bulky items, going to the front of the street and counting the number of houses down to get the address and sending the well compiled information to 311 if they are just going to send a paid City Worker out to redo my work.
After my bicycle ride, I sent an email to 311. I gave basic information on the items that were in each back lane. I gave enough information for the City Worker to locate the lanes of interest, and drive down to verify for himself that there truely is bulky garbage that needs to be picked up. This should be enough information to have the City Worker investigate the back lanes and take care of the issues.

There are many large bulk items to be picked up in the St Johns area in the back lanes of Redwood/Boyd, Boyd/College, and College/Mountain between Main Street and McGregor Avenue.

In the lane of Redwood/Boyd between Salter and Powers there is an armchair beside a dumpster

In the lane of Redwood/Boyd between Powers and Andrews there are a few piles of mattresses, and other items

In the lane of Redwood/Boyd between Andrews and McGregor there are mattresses and a couch

In the lane of Boyd/College between Andrews and McGregor there is furniture at a few of the dumpsters

In the lane of Boyd/College between Powers and Andrews there are mattresses in two places

In the lane of Boyd/College between Salter and Powers there is a mattress

In the lane of College/Mountain between Aikens and Salter there is a window frame and another dumpter has a couch beside it.

In the lanes of College/Mountain between Salter and McGregor there are several other bulky items beside dumpsters.

Please have these issues addressed.

I have been advised by the 311 department that the Water and Waste Department has been notified of this and have recieved a single ticket number for reference. Maybe all I really have to do is let them know that there is stuff that needs to be dealt with. I will keep an eye on this and let you know what I find.

Was It Something I Said ??

The property manager for the Party House showed up earlier today. He put a couch in his truck and then left. It was hard to say exactly what was going on, and why he was at the house removing a couch.
But later in the day I noticed there was a pile of furniture at the back of the Party House next to the lane.

And one of the dumpsters in the back lane was full of broken furniture and baby strollers.

Do you think it was something I said?
The property manager showed up again, and said he would be coming back later in the day, or tomorrow, to pick up the furniture and mattresses that were stacked at the back of the lot of the party house.
I guess the people who were causing all the problems at that house have left again. And I guess all the furniture and mattresses that were just given to them from CFS are being thrown out again.
I had a look at the items that were stacked at the back of the lot. These are items that have only been in the house for a month. They would have been the replacement furniture and mattresses after the Party House got shovelled out last month. And they were all full of mouse droppings.

I am expecting another influx of mice in my house tonight. Better put the mouse snacks out.
Oh, my husband just told me he replenished the mouse buffet, so we are open for business.

I Am Mad As Hell, And What Should I Do About It?

If you have been following this blog, you are aware that I am not pleased with the situation the North End is in. I am not happy with the issues going on in the North End and on my street.
When I first started the blog I was not sure what would come of it, if anything. Then I got a call from the Mayor. I started to think maybe someone is listening to the issues of the North End. Maybe I am making a difference. But it turns out the Mayor was filled with empty promises. Remember that when you vote. I will.
As the weeks went on, I did manage to get the mattresses and couches picked up from my back lane and the neighbouring back lanes. I did manage to get a dumpster delivered and placed where there was a gap in my back lane.
I have sent letters to different members of government requesting changes to existing Acts and By-Laws. I have uncovered holes in procedures, which may actually get fixed because of my actions.
And I have discovered there are Residents Organizations throughout the neighbourhoods of this fine City. In my area we have the St Johns Residents Association. They happen to have their Annual General Meeting this Saturday. Well, I am a part of this neighbourhood, and I am going to attend the meeting.
The meeting is at Ralph Brown Community Centre on Saturday, October 2 at 11:00am.
I will be there, because I am a part of the St. Johns community and I am not turning a blind eye to the actions going on in my neighbourhood anymore.
If you care about your community, go to your neighbourhood residents association meeting. If you don't know who they are or where they meet, ask your local member of government. Be a part of the solution.
I am mad as hell, and I am going to be a part of the solution.

New Dumpster Delivered Where Garbage Was On Ground

I sent an email to 311 on Sept 13 to take care of the garbage that was dumped on the ground behind one of the houses in my back lane. I specifically requested that the issue be submitted as a complaint regarding the residence dumping garbage on the ground and not in a dumpster. I also requested the issue be directed to the attention of Waste Management and asked if a dumpster could be placed in that location. I said there was a large gap between dumpsters where that residence was located.
My request to have the issue sent to the two different departments was done, and I was given reference numbers for each "ticket" created.

My request to have a dumpster placed behind the residence was also followed through. There is now a dumpster sitting behind the house in question. And the dumpster is now almost full. I think there may have been a need for a dumpster at that very location.
It is moments like this that I feel my words are not in vein. :)

Thursday is Garbage Day In My Back Lane

Sure enough, 6am I heard the garbage truck coming down the lane. I sure am getting service these days. I could set my calendar to the garbage trucks now. Even civic holidays don't disrupt my Thursday garbage day. And this week the dumpsters were not even overflowing. There were a few dumpsters that were actually full, but not all of them. I think this week we only had regular residential garbage in our dumpsters. How weird is that!!!

There were a few issues in the back lane though. First, there is a dresser, two chairs and a foam mattress beside one of the dumpsters. The dresser has been there since Sept 4, and the foam mattress and chairs have been there since at least the 11th of Sept. I guess I was just wondering if they would be removed without me making a ticket. I am getting the feeling that I am the only one on my block that is reporting these items to 311. I was thinking that the paid employee of the City of Winnipeg that drives down the lanes verifying tickets might also drive down lanes looking for items for pickup. Maybe that was a little wishful thinking on my part. I will get on that today and report the items to 311 so the City worker can drive down my lane and verify that the items do need to be picked up. I think I should take a walk down the other lanes in my area as well, then, and see what other items have collected since the last time I did a back lane check. What would these people do without me? Maybe I should become a City Worker. Maybe 311 should put me on the payroll to walk or drive down back lanes and streets and report all the large items that are just sitting there, week after week. I could follow the garbage trucks and take note of the items they leave behind.

I could locate back yards where people leave their garbage in bags thinking the garbage trucks will pick it up. Here is a pile of garbage that is missing a dumpster. This garbage has been here since Sept 4. The people moved out of the house where these items are sitting. They did not bother to walk the garbage to one of the dumpsters in the back lane. The garbage trucks do not pick up anything that is not in a dumpster, and because this is just on the ground, it will stay there until I make a ticket to tell someone about it. I actually did make a ticket a few days ago. I requested that it be sent to City By-Laws for investigation. I also requested that this issue be looked at by those that decide where dumpsters go. There is a big gap in space between dumpster locations on either side of this particular residence. Maybe part of the fault in this garbage being dumped on the ground is that there is no dumpster close to this property. I wonder if one of the dumpsters at the end of the lane will get moved over behind that house. That would make sense to me. Why have a huge gap, then three dumpsters at the end of the lane.

If I was patrolling the back lanes of the North End I could also keep an eye on houses that choose to leave their garbage right below their upstairs windows. The upstairs tenant of the Party House is still tossing garbage out the window, and it just stays on the ground below. As the weeks go by, the garbage pile will grow, I am sure. It will grow until finally it is at the point where the City By-Laws officers will request the landlord to clean the property again.

The apples are still falling from the tree in the back yard of the Party House, and remaining on the ground. Nobody is cleaning them up. They are on the ground rotting and turning into muck. I could not imagine walking on that lawn. There are kids in the house and kids that play in the yard. The apples just squish under ones foot if they are stepped on. And the apples are still full of wasps. And the apples are feeding any animal around that needs to feed. I read the liveability act. This should not be an acceptable back yard. If I was employed to go down the back lanes and look for issues like this I could report them. But I am not. I am just a resident of one city block. I am just a resident who reached a tipping point. I am just one resident in the North End trying to take back my neighbourhood.

There is movement at the Party Duplex

There are people moving into the duplex. The current occupant seems to already know them.
Two weeks ago, on August 20th I called the police to make a noise complaint. This was at 4:30am. They said they had received several other complains as well regarding the noise issue. The people had taken their party to the back yard and were yelling at each other. This went on until at least 6:00am. I know, because I could not sleep all night.
The next morning, at 9:30am the police arrived at the house and were banging on the door. They were banging for quite a while. Finally a four year old boy answered the door. Next thing I saw, there was a dog tied up next to the police car with an extention cord, and four little kids in the back of the police car.
A while later a few vehicles showed up, looking like Child and Family Services. And Judy W, the mayoral candidate, was there as well. The kids diapers were changed on the street, and the kids were taken off.
The next day there was a white truck at the party house, with a few big guys. There was a lot of yelling coming from the front yard of the house. A short while later the truck drove off with the two big guys, and several occupants of the residence.
Not all of the residents left. There are two suites in the house. The upstairs resident was still seen, with a young child. The young child and other kids of the neighbourhood were throwing rotten apples down the lane a few days later. The adult did not care, and said its the North End, and he could do what he wants. The adult was seen on a few occasions tossing garbage out the window into the yard.
Then last weekend, on Sunday, the party duplex got cleaned out. All the dumpsters down the lane got filled with garbage. Mattresses and a couch were left by the dumpsters. That mess finally got cleaned up on Thursday when the garbage trucks arrived.

The rotten apples are still in the back yard, and the wasps are getting worse every day.
Aug 20 was not the first time we called the police regarding that duplex. Several complaints had been made by many people in the neighbourhood. Several calls to the police and the landlord had been placed. This house is a known issue and has been for quite some time.
Now, it looks like people are moving in to the duplex. The current resident seems to know the people who are moving in, and I heard someone give a list of furniture that will be provided to them as they move back. It looked like another vehicle from CFS.
Did the residents get temporarily moved out so someone could shovel out their mess, then moved back in with new furniture and clothing? How often does this house cleaning process happen?
And will they be partying again tonight? Are we back to sleepless nights?

Comment: At Least You Can Have Large Items Collected

I received a comment on my last post entitled "Dumpster Takes Three Trucks To Clear".

Anonymous said...


You may be annoyed with multiple trucks to clear that pile of trash by the dumpster, but at least you can have large items collected for free at any time within a week of requesting it. There are communities where they can't afford to respond that quickly, and can only have large item collections once or twice a year.

The person is right. I can have large items collected for free. I am sure there are communities that do not have this option available to them. In Winnipeg, everyone is entitled to have large items picked up. The City of Winnipeg site states that there may be a fee of $20.00 assigned to the pickup, and they will collect up to six large items.  All a person has to do is contact 311.
In the North End there is not a charge for picking up large items. This is what I was told when I called 311 to ask why the garbage trucks keep driving down my lane without emptying any of the dumpsters. This was back in June. I was tired of getting little or no service in the way of waste management. I was also tired of trucks driving down my lane dropping large items off in my back yard at all hours of the night.
The problems with waste management in Winnipeg is one of the reasons I am writing this blog. I am tired of having to watch my back lane and make sure the garbage trucks are taking the garbage they are paid to take. The City of Winnipeg has contracted waste management out to a private company. This private company does not always do its job, and when it does, sometimes it only does part of its job. That is one issue that is occurring with waste management. I am getting my garbage removed weekly now, only because I spent an hour on the phone with 311 back in June explaining how the garbage truck keeps driving down the lane and takes nothing, week after week.

Another issue is that the North End has become a dumping ground for large items. Contractors dump their construction garbage. Residents dump their large screen TVs. We get couches, and mattresses from other areas of the city. Landlords are using the dumpsters to empty out problem houses instead of hauling large amounts of garbage to the Brady Landfill, or renting a temporary bin. These items are all being dumped in our back yards. Imagine waking up tomorrow morning in Transcona, River Heights, Charleswood, St James, and finding two couches and seven mattresses in your back lane. It might be up against your fence, or blocking the door to your garage. Maybe it is sitting in your yard next to the kids playhouse. Now imagine that you saw the person dumping the items, and they told you that you should be lucky that you get these items picked up for free as they got back in their truck and drove off. That is what is happening in the North End. And all you have to do is call 311 and someone will pick up the bulk garbage.

The trucks that pick up the bulk items are large garbage trucks. They are the trucks that open at the back to accept garbage. They are capable of handling large amounts of garbage. The contractors get paid by the ton I am sure. I have not seen the contracts, but I am sure it is something like that. But the bulk pickups state they will only pick up six items. The dumpster I was discussing had more than six items. So, it took two trips by this contract company to pick up a stack of items beside a single dumpster. I am sure there is a financial reason for this. I am sure there is a fee per ticket on top of the garbage collection fee associated with this issue. And each ticket created also costs to have a City employee drive out and verify the pick-up on top of the added cost to the contract company.

The next issue in this waste management mess is the illegal dumping of garbage. The process for reporting these people is to contact 311. They send the information to the City By-Laws people who do the investigating. But the City By-Laws people do not have access to the database at MPI that will allow them to see who is doing the dumping. So, although it is illegal for non-residents of these dumpsters to dump garbage and large items at or near the dumpsters, nothing is being done to stop the illegal dumping.

So, we have garbage trucks that may or may not pick up garbage. We have construction companies dumping their construction material in the back lanes of the North End. We have huge amounts of mattresses appearing in the back lanes of the North End. We have trucks coming in the middle of the night dropping residential garbage and large items. We have landlords filling entire back lanes with garbage as they empty problem houses. We have trucks that will only pick up six items at a time, and need to be called back to collect the remaining items in these huge piles. We have a City By-Law office that is unable to act on illegal acts. This is not as simple as "At Least You Can Have Large Items Collected".

Dumpster Takes Three Trucks To Clear

One of the dumpsters I saw last week had two couches, and king size box spring sitting beside it on Aug 25. I reported the items to 311 to have them create a ticket and get the items picked up.
I took pictures of all the dumpsters along the back lanes I walked, and made note of each one that had mattresses and couches stacked beside them. Each issue was reported to 311@winnipeg.ca, and I included a photo of each item I was reporting so they would know exactly what was sitting beside each dumpster. The people at 311 would thank me for the photo, stating that it helped them in knowing what needed to be picked up.

The next time I went down the back lane, I noticed there were more items stacked beside the dumpster. There were still the two couches and king size box spring. But now there was a door, and five or six more mattresses. This was on Aug 27. I already had a ticket created for this dumpster, so I thought it would all be taken care of. But I took a picture of the stack of items by the dumpster anyway, just so I would know exactly what was at the dumpster on that day.
The dumpster had been emptied the day before, on Aug 26. But the items beside the dumpsters do not get removed by the regular garbage truck. They have to wait for the special truck to arrive.

The next time I went down the back lane, on Aug 29, the mattresses and couches were still there. This was now four days after I reported the items, and two days after the dumpster was emptied. I talked to one of the people who lived near that dumpster. They said the couches had been by the dumpster for quite a while. I knew it could take a while after reporting the issue. I was told the contractors have 7 business days to take care of the ticket once they receive it. I was told this on Aug 26. So, the constractors still had plenty of time to pick these items up.

On Aug 31, I checked on the dumpster with the couches and mattresses again. This time I noticed most of the mattresses were gone. But the two couches and one box spring that were originally beside the dumpster were still there. Where did the stack of mattresses go? Did the truck come and pick up only some of the mattresses? Or did someone from the area decide they wanted the mattresses and took them away? I wanted to know, so I sent an email in to 311@winnipeg.ca. I quoted the ticket number I was originally given for the two couches and the box spring. I asked the status of the ticket. I received a reply the next day telling me the ticket had been closed. I asked for more detail, provided the photos showing more mattresses appearing, then back to the original items. I was told that they do not receive any information except that the ticket had been closed. So, it seems the contractors came to the dumpster and took only part of the items that needed to be picked up. The people at 311 made yet another ticket to have the items picked up. Again, we would try to have the two couches and box spring picked up from beside the dumpster.
Finally yesterday the couches and box spring were cleaned up from the back lane. But it took two special trucks to come to a single dumpster to pick up the items.
While I was checking on the dumpsters on Aug 31, I noticed a city worker going down the back lanes. I stopped the person to ask what they were doing. I was told that he was checking on the reports of items to be picked up. I was told that a contractor is not sent out to pick up any mattresses, couches, or any other large item until someone drives out to the location and verifies that the item is approved for pick-up. An item will not get picked up if it is still on private property, which I can understand. But I sent photos showing exactly what I am requesting for pickup. I was told he still has to come out and verify the items before sending the request to the contractors.
The city is no longer in control of the garbage pick-up. That has been contracted out to a private company. What the city does have control of is a system of creating tickets. We contact them regarding bulk trash and they make a ticket. They have a city worker confirm the ticket by driving down the back lanes, then they send the ticket to the contractor. Then what? Does the city worker check to make sure the ticket was completed by driving down the back lanes again? And how much garbage do these contract workers pick up when a ticket is issued? Apparently they do not pick up everything. I saw that myself with the stack of mattresses. A second ticket had to be created. A second drive down the back lane to verify the ticket had to be done. A second contractor truck had to come down the lane to pick up the couches and box spring.
So that one dumpster had the regular garbage truck, the city worker verifying each bulk pick-up request, and the contractor truck coming down the lane to pick up the mattresses on the first trip and the two couches and box spring on its second trip. Didn't it used to take just one truck on garbage day?

Party Duplex Gets Cleaned Out

I contacted the City of Winnipeg about the garbage and rotten apples in the back yard of the party duplex on my street. They were going to investigate. Thank goodness. The apples were attracting wasps and really starting to stink. And garbage was piling up in the back yard. I even saw the resident upstairs pitch garbage out of the window into the back yard.

On Sunday a van pulled up in the back lane behind the party house. The woman from the van was hauling garbage out of the house, and filled up two dumpsters. I have no idea if it was related to my complaint or not, but thank goodness. I was glad to see that someone was going to take care of the garbage accumulating at that house.

Then the property manager of the party duplex arrived at the house around noon. Again, I am not sure why he was there. He entered the location, came out and threw up. I guess it was pretty nasty inside. He mentioned that there was a vacancy that needed to be filled. Maybe he came to clean up a vacant suite. That may be the result of a whole other story from a few weeks ago involving several noise complaint calls to the police all night, the party duplex residents yelling, breaking glass, threatening neighbours all night, and the police arriving at 9:30am, followed by CFS taking three kids away. 

The police were banging on the party duplex door for quite a while. Finally the door was answered by a four year old. Next thing we saw, there were three kids sitting in the back of a police car and a dog beside the car. CFS finally showed up, changed a diaper, and took the kids. It breaks your heart to see that kind of stuff going on.
... Back to the cleanup. The property manager hired a fellow to clean up the house. The fellow had been working for a few hours already before the property manager came to check on things. He hauled garbage out of the house all day.

Enough garbage was taken out of the house to fill every dumpster in my back lane. Every dumpster is now full or overfull from the contents of the duplex. If this all came from just one suite, how bad was it in there?
Lets just say the main floor of the duplex is 1200 sq ft. I know the dumpsters are 5'x4' and stacked 6' high. It looks like 5 dumpsters worth of garbage, plus a couch, a few chairs, a kitchen table, 2 box spring and mattresses and 1 single mattress. The dumpsters alone are 600 sq ft of garbage.

Was it just from the main floor? Is the suite empty, or is this just round one? If this was the condition of the main floor, how bad is the second floor? If the property manager threw up when he entered the suite, how bad is the entire house?
And while the garbage was being hauled out of the house, while the yard was being cleaned up, the person upstairs threw another bag of garbage out the window into the back yard.

I know it's on your mind. It is certainly on mine. How many bed bugs were evicted during the clean-up. How many bed bugs were distributed down my back lane into every dumpster. How many bed bugs are on the mattresses, on the couch, in and around the entire back lane now that the garbage has been distributed?
Who gets to take the garbage out tomorrow from your house? And how close do you want to get to your dumpster?

Lets Clean Up Some Graffiti In The North End

When I went for my first walk down the back alleys surrounding my block on Aug 25 I was surprised at the amount of graffiti. My block does not have any graffiti, well not really. The block down from me has three garages and/or fences with large graffiti sprayed across. I took pictures of the graffiti. I remember seeing a place on the winnipeg.ca website where one could report graffiti. It's at the self serve section of the site at http://www.winnipeg.ca/interhom/311SelfService/index.stm. My thought was that I would send 311@winnipeg.ca an email, and include the photos. I could help get rid of graffiti while doing the dumpster checks.

So, home I went. I sent an email to 311@winnipeg.ca containing the three pictures and the approximate locations in the back lane where the graffiti was located. That was on Aug 25.
On Aug 26 I received an email advising me that 311 cannot process the request to have the graffiti cleaned up unless I have an exact address for each piece of graffiti. I replied that I did not have an exact address, and that I noticed the graffiti while in the back lane. I said the graffiti would be easily identified in the back lane, and commented that I was just trying to be a good citizen. That's what I was trying to be.
I received a further email regarding the graffiti today. The addresses in question will all receive waivers that must be completed and returned to the City. Once the waivers are received the graffiti can be cleaned up.

There was no mention of waivers needed when I was at the City of Winnipeg website. I am not sure if the people being sent the waivers will fill them out either. I understand that it is private property and the City does need permission to fix the graffiti. But here's the thing. I was talking to one of the residents who has the graffiti on his garage. This person has already painted over it several times. The graffiti keeps re-appearing. I asked him if I could put a request in to the city to have it removed. He said I could. But will he bother filling out a waiver and send it in to the City? He is already tired of painting over the graffiti that keeps coming back.

If I had graffiti on my garage and submitted a request just to find out a form would be mailed (tax payer money) for me to fill out and send back (at my expense?) I think I would be a little ticked. Why not just offer the waiver form online? Why not tell me up front that a waiver is required for the graffiti to get cleaned up? Wouldn't that save time, tax payer money, and aggravation? I could have had a form with me and gotten it signed while I was talking to the person in his back lane.
The current self serve section of the City of Winnipeg website offers several options, including Graffiti Report. It even says a tracking number is available so the ticket can be tracked online. That all sounds great. The form asks for the address of the graffiti, and a description and location of the graffitti. It also asks for a contact name and address. Then it offers the opportunity to attach a file before sending the ticket off. But it doesn't say anything about a waiver form being mailed out to the address of the graffiti.
Maybe somewhere in the form it could mention that a waiver would be sent out to the residence. Maybe the online form could offer the option to print the waiver now or send it in the mail. Maybe the form should mention that nothing will be done without the waiver being sent back to the City of Winnipeg.
I wonder how many good citizens are reporting graffiti and how many waiver forms are being sent out. I wonder what percentage of waivers are being returned to the city for processing? I wonder how many times each piece of graffiti has a request and subsequent waiver sent out? I wonder how many people tried to report graffiti once and came to the same point I am at right now.
Please, adjust the online form for reporting graffiti. Let the users know that a waiver is required and you will be sending it out in the mail when we submit the form. Change the website to allow the waiver to be printed online so it does not have to be mailed out. Change the website to allow the waiver to be sent back to the City of Winnipeg online, as an attachment, maybe include the ticket number with it, or some form of identification.
Please, help us help ourselves!

Mattresses and Door taken by BFI truck

The BFI truck came down the lane this afternoon. They picked up the mattresses at the dumpster next to mine. They were even nice enough to take the door out of my dumpster so I can have my garbage picked up next garbage day. That was sure nice. Maybe it depends on the specific person working in the garbage truck whether they will take more items than are listed specifically on their "ticket". Anyway, my door has been picked up.

The mattresses were picked up from the neighbours dumpster, but the dumpster is almost full, and now there is garbage on the ground beside the dumpster. Maybe it was under the mattresses.

I went for my walk down the back lanes. More mattresses have been dumped on top of the already existing ones from a few days ago. On Aug 25 there were two couches, a door and two mattresses at this dumpster. Now there are an additional three mattresses.

And I found a few couches in the alley on the other side of me. They are everywhere. I bet there is not a back lane in the North End without a couch or mattress. Do the residents of the North End have that much money? Are they replacing their bedroom furniture monthly? I wonder where these mattresses are actually coming from.

When I was talking to the Mayor this morning, he asked me if I like the dumpsters. He asked if I would like them removed and go back to putting my own garbage out like the rest of the city. He said everyone should have the same service. I told him of course I want to be able to put my garbage out on garbage day and have it taken away. Of course I want to get rid of the dumpsters. Hmmm. I didn't know it would be that simple. Sam Katz asked little ol' me if I want to get rid of the dumpsters. The answer is YES.

A Call From The Mayor Himself

I got a call this morning. It was from Mayor Sam Katz. He likes my blog.
He called to tell me he is working with the Winnipeg Police on a plan to make the North End a safer place. Ya, Ya, like we havent't heard that before. But he seemed sincere. No, wait a minute, isn't there an election coming up?
While I had him on the phone I thought I might ask him a favor. See, I was talking to Kevin Seaford yesterday. He is at the City By-Law Enforcement Office, the city facade that is in place to placate the citizens. I had asked Kevin yesterday about their inability to process my "ticket" to go after the man who was doing the illegal dumping into my dumpster. Apparently Kevin has been after the powers that be for quite a while. He has been trying to gain access to the MPI database so they can process these complaints. He is quite frustrated in his office's inability to take care of these matters.
So here I am, with the Mayor on the phone. Sam said he read my blog. I asked him about the By-Law Departments inability to process my complaint. I asked him why they do not have access to the databases they need to do their jobs. His answer was similar to the City By-Law department. He said since the privacy laws have come in, they are restricted in what they have access to.
So I asked the mayor if I have to call the Police then, to have the issue taken care of. I suggested that the City By-Law department should actually be able to submit the vehicle license number to the Winnipeg Police, get the needed information back, and be able to process the complain. I told him the City By-Law department is currently just a fascade. He agreed that the City By-Law department should be able to get the information they need from the police.
Then he told me he was going to take care of my particular "ticket" personally. He was going to "personally make sure" it was taken care of. The mayor said it was just a shame that a citizen reports an illegal act and nothing is getting done about it.
I feel so much better, not. These are just words. A lot of words from City Hall.
What I want is results. I want to see that my ticket is taken care of. And I want to see the City By-Laws department actually being allowed to submit their requests for information to the Police and be able to get the needed information back.
Then I will believe what the Mayor told me. Then I may have a bit of faith in City Hall.

The Dumpsters Got Emptied - Well Mostly

The dumpster fairies arrived early this afternoon. I could hear them coming down the lane.

One cannot mistake the sound of metal grinding and shaking as the truck grabs hold of the dumpster, lifts it in the air, and pours its contents into the back of the truck. Then there is the sound of the truck mechanism pushing the freshly consumed garbage into the back of the vehicle. The mechanical grinding sound of pushing the garbage as far as it can in the truck, then grinding back to accept another load.
I was so excited. I rushed out to make sure it was truely in my back alley, and not the hopeful echoing sound from someone elses lucky alley. Sure enough, there it was, in all its glory.
I waited patiently. I knew it would come and pick up the smelly, stinking, insect luring garbage from the dumpster just the other side of my fence. Soon I would be able to go in my back yard and not smell the aroma of rotting garbage. I watched from over the fence as the truck grabbed hold of my dumpster. I watched as my dumpster was raised up in the air.

I watched as the door in my dumpster rammed up against the great mechanism that lifts the garbage into the truck.
The truck lowered my dumpster. It lowered the dumpster with the door still in it. It lowered the dumpster with the smelling garbage still in it. The garbage person came out of the truck and tried to manouver the heavy door, but to no avail.
They moved on. The garbage person got back into the truck and moved on.

The dumpster with the mattresses was next. It got emptied. The mattresses remain of course. They must wait for the special truck to arrive and pick them up. They must wait until the special "ticket" gets processed before they get hauled away.
The truck moved slowly down the lane, grinding and churning, turning the stinking, smelling garbage into a compact and controllable substance to be dumped in dumpster fairy land.

The truck removed the garbage from the dumpster stacked high with TV parts and the huge diaper box that balanced above it. Of course the TV parts on the ground are still in place. Again, they are waiting for their special "ticket" to be processed and a specific truck come out and clean that mess up.
The dumpster at the end of the street was emptied. Well, that is the dumpster on the right side of the lane got emptied.

The two, now overflowing dumpsters on the left side could not be emptied. The truck only works from one side.
When I went out into the back lane to check and make sure all of the dumpsters were taken care of I saw a group of individuals cutting the grass in the empty lot that houses the two dumpsters that reside on the left side of the lane. I am not really sure why they are on the left side of the lane, but they are. I saw one of the workers pick up the garbage that surrounded the dumpster and place it in the dumpster. I saw a few workers cutting the grass in the empty lot. I also saw that the dumpster is now overflowing with grass and weed debris. It seems to be overflowing with garbage, more than it was yesterday. I think it was great that these individuals came out to clean the yard, cut the grass, and pick up the debris. I also think it was great that they placed all of these said items in a dumpster. But they put them in the dumpster to the point that it was overflowing. It was overflowing in a major way. The garbage and debris they so carefully balanced on top of the dumpster is going to be back on the ground soon.
The dumpsters on the left side of the lane are now way past full. I really don't know when or if they actually get emptied. How much of this garbage is going to stay in the dumpster? How much of it will be spread around the dumpster? How much will be sent through the neighbourhood by wind, animals, or other transport methods?
I remember a garbage day when I would put my few bags of garbage out on the curb the night before, and the garbage truck would come early in the morning and pick up the garbage. What happened to those days?

City By-Law Officers Are A Facade

Since moving to the North End a few years ago I have been witness to countless people driving up to my dumpster and depositing their household and commercial waste.
Back in 2008 I took a picture on one person who said very arrogantly that he had every right to put his chain link fence in my dumpster. He even posed for a picture. I did not do anything with the picture at that time, and when I sent it in to the By-Law enforcement people I was told it was too late for them to act on the issue. I was told they could proceed with current issues up to about 6 months old.
So, I started taking pictures again. When I have been home, and when I have heard someone rummaging in the dumpster outside my back yard, I grab my camera and head outside. I ensure that my husband is with me. I don't trust people in the back lane to leave me unharmed if I am there alone. We rush out to the gate, open it, and step into the back lane. Then we ask the person what they are doing, ask them if they are a resident of this street, and advise them that it is illegal to be dumping the garbage in our dumpster. While doing this I try to get a picture of them and hope to include a license plate of the vehicle in the picture.

 Then I get a picture of the garbage that was left behind by the person.
Once I have this proof of illegal activity, I send the information into the 311 people via email (311@winnipeg.ca).
The people at 311 give me a ticket number and let me know that they have forwarded the information on to the By-Law people who will take care of it for me.
That all sounds great. But I just got a call from the By-Law people. I have been informed that although I have a picture of the person, the license number of the truck, and a photograph of the items that were dumped in my dumpster, they cannot proceed with the issue. She said nothing will be done about it.

The reason nothing will be done about the issue is that the By-Law department has no authority to run a vehicle license plate. If there is no record of the vehicle license plate in their system at City By-Laws they cannot go any further. I was told even if they find the information on the vehicle license plate and go to the residence where it was insured, they have no authority to ask for identification of any person at that residence. It was something about privacy acts.
Who, in this city, created these rules? Why can an official in the By-Law enforcement office not have access to resources that can actually assist them in doing their jobs? Or why can they not turn the issue over to someone who does have access to the information needed to take care of these issues.
The By-Law enforcement officer suggested they could proceed if one was to ask for identification from the person committing the offence. I did say that I was already worried that we could be hurt just from going out and taking a picture of these people. I said I was not about to start asking for identification in a back alley. The officer completely understood my concern for my personal safety.
I do not, in any way, want you to think that this person from the By-Law department was rude or uncaring. Quite the contrary. The By-Law Officer shared my frustration in the situation and in the system that office is forced to work with. But here again, we are facing rules and procedures that make no sense at all.
I was told that this is not an isolated incident. I was told that this behaviour of illegal dumping is quite a problem. The By-Law officer didn't need to tell me that. I already knew.
I have heard from friends and neighbours that the issues in my back lane are they same as the issues in their back lanes. I have seen the garbage piled high in the dumpsters all through the North End.
So we have city workers employed in the By-Law department, being paid with our tax dollars. These By-Law officers are paid to enforce the city By-Laws. But they are not given the tools to actually enforce them.
The people who are driving into the North End, dumping their garbage in our yards and allleys, cannot be prosecuted for their illegal activities. The people who live in the North End and are witnessing these acts must put their lives in harms way to ask the criminals for identification.
Am I to report these issues to the police for investigation? Are they the only city workers who are able to do an investigation? Or should I call 911 when the act is occurring? Am I the irresponsible person here, not getting the proper information from the citizens of Winnipeg who are "cleaning up the city" by putting their garbage in my dumpster?
How much tax money does it take to stop the illegal dumping of garbage in the North End? Or is this just a facade, a system of bureaucratic steps designed to make the residents of the North End feel their concerns are being heard and their issues are being dealt with?

Bad Apples in the Alley

I opened the back gate to check on the dumpsters in my back lane tonight and all I saw on the ground was rotten apples. The lane was filled with rotten apples. I looked over toward the house where I knew the apples came from and three kids were standing in the lane. One of them was throwing apples.

I went back into the house and told my husband that the kids were out in the lane throwing the rotten apples down the lane. I said the lane was filled with rotten apples.

We both went out to the back lane and approached the kids. My husband told them to stop throwing the apples. I told the kids to pick up the apples and put them in the dumpster. I said they should have more respect for where they live. I told them that it was not right to be throwing the apples in the lane.

Well, the mom of one of the kids came out of the party duplex. She was screaming mad. She started yelling and swearing at us, asking if we were swearing at her kids. She was swearing at us telling us we better not be swearing at her kids. I said that I told the kids to pick up the apples they threw in the back lane and put them in the dumpsters. Her response was that the kids could do what they want. She said "this is the North End, what do you expect". My husband said he "expects neighbours to treat the neighbourhood with respect". She said "it is not her area anyway".  She yelled for a bit longer before we went our seperate ways.

After that bizarre introduction to my back lane tonight I proceeded to take pictures of the overflowing dumpsters. Here it is, my favorite dumpster of the week. The diaper box is still balancing mysteriously on top. No garbage fairies visited last night. Here's hoping they will come tonight.

Later in the day the kids started attacking one of the houses in the neighbourhood. The house is under construction and currently empty. The kids were banging the side of the house with a metal pole and destroying some of the wiring on the outside of the house. Luckily none of the windows were broken. That is mostly because the lower windows are all boarded up currently. As I was checking the house to see what damage they did, I looked over to the party duplex and saw garbage being thrown out of the upstairs window. I guess that is their garbage disposal system. And that would explain why the back yard looks like a dump site.
Thats it for now.

My morning walk - Aug 25

I went for a morning walk today in my neighbourhood. What the heck, I used to be able to do this sort of thing when I lived outside of the North End, so why not go for a walk here.

I went for a walk down my back lane, then went a block further and came back home down the back lane on the other side of the street. Of course I took my camera with me. And of course I found mattresses and couches in and around the dumpsters in these back lanes.

I wonder how long they have been there? I wonder if the residents of those lanes even put them there.

Where do all of these mattresses and couches come from? And how often are they picked up.

How many more mattresses and couches are there in the back lanes of the North End?

If there are this many just in the two blocks surrounding my house, you would think the city would take a more pro-active approach to cleaning them up. You would think they would want to clean up the streets and alleys of the city.

The people who are paid to pick up the garbage in the city must be aware of how many mattresses and couches are sitting in the back lanes. Wouldn't it bother them to drive by and leave these items week after week?

Now strictly from a financial point of view, we already pay the garbage people to drive their trucks down the back lanes. This is coming out of our city taxes. In order to get these couches and mattresses picked up, someone has to take time out of their day to contact 311 (311@winnipeg.ca or call 311) and report the materials. In the North End we are not charged for the pickup, we can have the large items hauled away for free. But it is not really free, it comes out of our taxes. So each one of these dumpsters requires someone to contact 311, and a city employee has to create a "ticket" to have the items picked up. Then a special dump truck has to come and pick up the items in the ticket. And they only pick up the items in the ticket. I know, because they showed up to pick up a mattress I called in. I had another mattress at a different house and asked if they could pick it up as well. I was told they were only here for what was on their ticket. I would have to create another ticket to have the other mattress picked up. Again, this is our tax dollars. Each item, or group of items is a different ticket. Each item or group of items requires a new truck to drive to the location and pick up the specific items on their ticket. Is this making sense? Is it going to take five garbage trucks and five different trips to pick up the items I just showed you, after we have already paid for the original garbage truck to pick up our garbage? This is not making financial sense to me.

And this does not include the cost of fire trucks or any fire damage caused by these items remaining in the back lanes for days and weeks and sometimes months before getting picked up. On my block alone I have seen these items set on fire because they have been sitting for so long.
There has got to be a better system than the one we have. There has got to be a better and cheaper way of dealing with the large items that congregate around the dumpsters in the North End.
This is not just a problem for and about the North End. I know for a fact that these large items are not all originating from the North End. People from other parts of the city are using the North End as a free dumping ground for their unwanted items. The next time you dump a fridge, stove, mattress, couch, 60" large screen tv, etc in or around a dumpster in the North End, think about the amount of tax money you just used up in scheduling and bringing out a special truck, or calling a fire truck to put out the fire. Think about the amount of tax money you have spent the next time you pay your taxes.
The more garbage that is dumped in the North End from other parts of the city, the worst our neighbourhood looks. And as I am sure you know, the worse the neighbourhood looks, the less the people of the neighbourhood care about their neighbourhood or take pride in their neighbourhood. It's the "broken window theory". If the garbage remains, more garbage will appear, and it will just keep getting worse and worse.
In the long run, it is cheaper to drive your garbage to the Brady Landfill site, where it is supposed to go, than it is to drive it to the North End and leave it in someones back yard.
Be tax wise.

Dumpster Check Aug 24

You thought the dumpster was full yesterday. I guess it is more full today. This is a dumpster that should have been emptied on the last garbage day. It does not look like a dumpster that was just emptied. Again the garbage men chose to empty only some of the dumpsters in my back lane when they visited.
We have a garbage day. The person I talked to at 311 that day told me that we have a garbage day. She said it was garbage day 4. Initially when she told me, I laughed. I said "you've got to be kidding". I said there is nothing scheduled about the comings and goings of the garbage trucks in this area. They show up when they feel like it, and pick and choose the dumpsters they are going to empty.

But after the call I placed to 311 in June, it seemed that the garbage trucks were coming more regularly. They seemed to be coming weekly, not on garbage day 4, but weekly. So, I have now come to expect the dumpsters to be taken care of, and taken care of on a weekly basis.
Mostly they have been, but not all of the dumpsters are taken care of all of the time. The dumpsters on the west side of the lane are full, and overfull. Each day more garbage gets stacked on top of the dumpsters.
I am sure the garbage people came on Wednesday to empty my dumpster and a few other dumpsters in my lane. I remember Thursday, when the guys were dumping their construction material in my dumpster, that it was close to empty. Monday was garbage day 4, but what can you do. I have requested that these two dumpsters be emptied the next time the garbage trucks are down my lane. One can only hope.
Tomorrow is Wednesday. Maybe the magic garbage fairies will come in the night.