Trash haulers make a mess in Schenectady
When it was garbage pickup day in our East Front Street neighborhood, I had to go out. I went up John Street and was appalled.
There was garbage all over both sides of the street. Not just loose garbage, but bags of garbage and there were garbage trucks parked on both sides. They park there when they take their breaks at Stewart’s.
What this tells me is these guys had just finished picking up and left the garbage all over the street. As I went up Eastern Avenue again, it was garbage day and garbage was all over the place. There is no excuse for this.
You want the residents and property owners to pick up their properties and keep them clean, yet these guys can’t take care not to spill garbage all over.
This must stop. They need to slow down and take pride in what they do.
The city needs to get rid of the clause in the garbage men’s contract stating they can go home when they finish their routes.
This is why they rush and throw the cans all over and spill garbage and don’t pick it up, because they don’t want to take the time because when they finish, they can go home.
How about rewards for doing a good job instead?
Come on mayor: Take notice. Our city looks like a trash dump because of this clause.
Mary Ann Ruscitto
Schenectady
The writer is president of East Front Street Neighborhood.
New comment policy is the right approach
The Jan. 5 Daily Gazette editorial, (“Modify new speaking rules,”) unfairly criticizes Saratoga Springs’ Mayor Safford’s approach to correcting the outrageous behavior that regularly occurred at City Council meetings over the past two years.
Two minute time limits with a flexible 15-minute total span on public comment had been part of the agenda for years.
It worked well. Mayor Safford is giving up to 10 people 3 minutes each to speak.
He’s offering those with longer comments the opportunity to submit remarks in writing to be posted for the public.
This is a very reasonable alternative to the time-consuming chaos that occurred under the previous administration.
I couldn’t disagree more with The Gazette’s insistence there’s no reason to require public comment speakers to give their name and address.
Would The Gazette feel comfortable publishing a letter to the editor from an anonymous source? People need to take responsibility for their remarks.
Also, all five Council members serve as legislators who represent the citizens of Saratoga Springs.
People who aren’t residents should be able to express their points of view, but council members must be able to differentiate the residential status of the speaker to properly weigh the impact of those comments.
Even among Saratoga Springs citizens, the location of where a person lives in the city is helpful as their comments are considered.
Though a street number isn’t necessary, and exceptions should be made when it could jeopardize the safety of the speaker, a general understanding of where in the city a person resides can be relevant when considering their comments.
Christian E. Mathiesen
Saratoga Springs
Letters Policy
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Letters related to upcoming elections are limited to 200 words.
A letter mentioning any declared candidate (for 2023 or 2024) for any local, state and federal office is considered election-related.