have any of the mayoral candidates been asked about the new slop program, or offered comments on this brilliant, new, progressive, forward-thinking scam?

Is it possible those who resist may need a few weeks at camp "get it together " or pay a fine ? Do the brownshirts have a " turn your neighbor in " phone number yet?

How the heck does the city have so much money for this green washing crap, but doesn't have enough money for an adequate amount of police on the street or enough money to keep open much needed community centers? If one of these dolts comes on my porch, they will have the contents of my slop bucket thrown at them!

This seems like a pretty ... um ... "interesting" way to skirt wage and hour laws ...

I had to love the introductory paragraph of OPB's piece on composting a few weeks back. It was as if the writer could not dream of somebody being opposed to it, saying something like "Please leave your comments below. If you were a skeptic about the mandatory composting, have you changed your mind and are now enjoying the concept?"

No, OPB dullard! I hated the idea when I was I forced to participate in the pilot program, and I still hate it!

I hear city is getting complaints. Looks like if their program isn't wanted, the city response is to figure out a way to make sure it will be!

Is there any sense left, money for this, but no money to have garbage picked up in parks?
Cynical I know, but is this an avenue to have organizations raise money and in return, these same organizations will be asked eventually to take care of parks and garbage?...all for the good of the community...while the big dollars go elsewhere!!

Garage Wine,
Quite the thought.
Less money for jobs to pay park employees, for example,
if they can get the volunteers to do it for free or less.
City can then have a special "Award" evening for the best volunteers of our city.
How about best volunteer for "Block Captain" to keep an eye on the rest of us?

$2.00 Conversation. How else do you expect PSU Graduate students earn their pot and coffee money?

But will they wear clean, neat, pressed, suits and ties?

The new question that should guide your every action: WWSD? Amen brother!

So, 50 cents per brochure left behind, or 50 cents * the whole stack for leaving them behind in one dumpster.

Hey look, I just got a nice chunk of walking around money, and it took me all of 5 minutes!

Jack, you are going about it wrong.
If they show up your door make sure you get your $2 worth.
No sense it letting that tax money go to waste.

Jack,

I hope to make this the longest possible conversation possible. If I can keep them on my porch for a full day so much the better. I can't wait for them to come to my door!

Can't wait to get my issue of "The Watchbucket"! Gimme that new time religion, gimme that new tim religion....

WWSD--what would stenchy do/what would sam do/what would satan do??

Maybe the last two are the same embodiment?

How are my taxdollars paying for this going to be verified that a "conversation" occurred or the flyers are delivered?

Oh, I get it, another bureaucracy will be formed to "monitor" or do "sampling" to verify. Money is no object.

My GUESS is they'll use the structure that has already been bribed and co-opted...the neighborhood associations.

There is an unholy alliance whereby the City funds each neighborhood coalition (which may have 12-20 neighborhoods) which funds a staff and office. In return, the neighborhood coalition writes a newsletter and deflects many of the everyday nagging that the REAL POLITICIANS hate to deal with.

A true cynic would expect the city to dangle the dough in front of the coalition boards...tell them the results they expect, and tell them the city will fund a "crime prevention specialist" next year when city council gets the results they want. A few years ago the city insisted the newsletter accept advertising as a condition of city funding.

There's no shortage of buttinskis in my neighborhood that would LOVE to tell everyone else on the block how to sort garbage...and everything else.

Smells of desperation. Mine just plain smells. Won't be putting it out during summer, that's for sure, nor taking freezer space for it as they suggest to those who don't want to be making pruno every week.

I'm gonna ask them to empty my bucket into the yard debris can seeing that that they are here and all.....

Just came back from a walk....
several blocks away a pick up today...
walked by a yard debris can and the stench was horrible as we walked by,
evidently what had been put in from the slop pail or.......
Wait until summer!

Clinamen, as a veteran of the composting pilot program/idiocy, I can say that odor was never the worst of my problems. Rats came to the neighborhood though, in synch with implementation of the program. "You're just not doing it right!" was the typical retort of local green propagandists, which is bullsh*t; I myself maintain a clean, orderly yard/household, but I cannot control what neighbors do, hence the rats...why didn't the geniuses who devised this program ever consider how hard it is to harmonize the yard-debris habits of entire neighborhoods?

Oh, and one of my neighbors says the amount of maggots he accumulates in his yard debris now is enough to make him vomit. And he's not exactly someone with a "delicate" constitution. On my side of the street, I have shoveled MANY a dead rat out of my shed since 2010.

So if there's one thing I can pass on to the non-pilot crowd, it's this: Summertime odor is not going to be a big deal. But you will want to remain hyper-vigilant about certain pests (e.g. rats, maggots). I propose that we all hire fleets of kitty-cats to exterminate the rodents and then send the Whiskas invoices to our worthless mayor.

LTJD,

You speak the absolute truth. Everything about the neighborhood coalition is designed to allow for small groups of narcissistic control freaks the opportunity to assert their self-proclaimed higher sense of enlightenment on arbitrarily designated "neighborhoods." Complete and total bullsh*t.

The city uses these neighborhood associations at times to accomplish goals that are in violation of city codes. City employees would never be able to get away with such intrusions and disregard for private property. But the neighborhood associations - acting as agents of the city - represent themselves as being sanctioned by the city, and most residents wrongly ASSUME their actions are somehow in compliance with the law.

Neighborhood associations are empowered to AT THE MOST write a letter to the City. But in the meantime they do their best to intimidate residents and neighbors and set one upon the other. The city, then acts on those letters as if the sentiments expressed truly represent a "neighborhood's" opinion. They do not. Many residents make the incorrect ASSUMPTION that neighborhood associations are like homeowner's associations, and are a legislative body. They are not.

I realize this rant is a little off topic, but in fact, I think neighborhood associations tie in well with rancid garbage.

The flyer for this was published in our neighborhood associations February newspaper. I may have to attend the meeting tomorrow night to voice my opinion that we should have to part of assisting with the survey.
The poster who mentioned how the city tries to strong arm associations to run the city propaganda is correct. They attempted that with ours a few years ago by claiming since they gave a pittance we had to publish what they provided.
When our editor pointed out that our paper was funded by advertisements and donations and the city money had no part in publishing it the city person blustered and insisted.
We then pointed out that since our paper is small, at that time only 4 to 6 pages total inclusion of the city product could swap any stories we ran.
Then we told the city to go pound sand.. They got the point.

NO.. not "to"

...Oh, and one of my neighbors says the amount of maggots he accumulates in his yard debris now is enough to make him vomit. And he's not exactly someone with a "delicate" constitution. On my side of the street, I have shoveled MANY a dead rat out of my shed since 2010.

Gross, just gross!
Wonder how many more vet bills will be incurred as a result of maggots and who knows what else? It won't be good to have children even playing outside with all of this.
Oops! I forgot, yards are verboten in the plans.
The pressure is on. Just keep filling that slop pail!
Where in heavens name is the Multnomah Health Department??

I'm with Tank and Dean: Jack, you are going about it wrong.
If they show up your door make sure you get your $2 worth.
No sense it letting that tax money go to waste.
Posted by tankfixer | February 6, 2012 12:49 PM

Jack,

I hope to make this the longest possible conversation possible. If I can keep them on my porch for a full day so much the better. I can't wait for them to come to my door!

This could be more fun than when the Witnesses came around!

Hey, they're both religions....

Our next new publication from the city recycling program, a Maggotzine.

I'm not a lawyer...never even played one on TV.

But it seems there is something a little contradictory about the city publication notice that says, "Volunteers earn $2.00 per conversation or $.50 per piece left behind for their organizations."

Volunteers? Earn? ($ 2 per conversation)?

For you lawyers: Is that legal speak for, "You're an independent contractor responsible for everything and if anything bad happens you're on your own"? Does that hold water?

It would be interesting to know whether the program
provides insurance coverage, should a volunteer be hurt?

Iced Borscht : Kitties aren't really ratters, they're mousers. Rats are too large for the average cat. For rats, you really need a specialist dog like a terrier or a dachshund. Either of which will leave you with poop to clean up, but that's probably a small price to pay for the vector-control service.

My cats have gotten rats in the past. One brought his catch in the house. This rat problem was from a broken sewer. We all knew where it was. Coyotes have also shown up to deal with rats and squirrels, and hawks to add to the mix. I get my blueberries now courtesy of hawks scaring starlings, without a human handler, although there is at least one human handler working for the blueberry industry. Sawdust or shredded newspaper will dry up compost enough to make it now smell. I know some of you will not want to take the time to do this, but junk mail could also serve, and you should be shredding that, I guess.

Shredded paper can dry out wet stuff enough that it will not stink. (My inner English teacher reminded me that socks stink and persons smell, as in sniff.)

As I had to re-post, I will add that worms like paper. I have not bothered to get the special kind, but native worms eat it also, as do slugs. I have not had the heart to kill slugs or hire geese, so I still have them.

Alice, there is actually a team of feral cats at PGE Park (or whatever it's called now) that keep the rodents at bay. The park has a feeding station set up for them and treats them as employees/exterminators (or at least they did as recently as 2004). I toured the feeding station-area with the grounds crew back then and I came away amazed at the great work the cats do.

When they started the Test Program 18+ months ago they sent around a cute girl to point out that composting reduced "green house gas" and I reminded her that it doesn't matter where our compost decomposes, in Lents, North Plains, or in my back yard. I always think about that conversation when they show the steaming piles at Recology.

All this rat and maggot talk,
I ask again where is our Multnomah Health Department and were they consulted on this matter? They certainly should have been. I can't believe that a county health department would allow this.
Could it be that Jeff Cogen, head of the County is just too tight with the city, as he came right out of Saltzman's office for his political career?

Anyone reading this who is from the Multnomah Health Department?
What do you think about all this?