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An anonymous reader sent DCist a series of photos of a D.C. Department of Public Works garbage truck driving through a recreation field in Rose Park in Georgetown last Saturday. The tipster described the truck as having hopped the curb to gain access to the "grass of a children's play area" in the park, and wondered whether this was safe. No one was injured, but a baby carriage in the foreground of the images certainly drives the point home: should city garbage trucks really be driving across recreation areas where children might be running around, not paying attention?
DPW spokesperson Linda Grant said that while the garbage truck activity pictured in these photos is considered safe driving -- crews are instructed to make sure no one is anywhere near their path before entering a park to collect trash from litter cans -- the department will now be adopting a new policy.
Starting today, DPW will be instructing their collection crews headed to city parks to carry a supercan with them, so that they can collect trash from park litter bins into the supercan. Crews will then be able to roll the supercan to the edge of the park and get it into the truck there.
"This will give us a higher safety level," Grant said.
According to Grant, DPW only began collecting garbage from city parks earlier this summer. Before then, the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation had been responsible for emptying trash cans located deep inside city parks, such as those placed next to picnic areas.
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it's a bear, it's some trash....it's supercan!!!
Let me guess, this person took these photos with his/her iPhone and posted it on his/her blog. I really did need a pointing finger to direct my attention toward the garbage truck on the grass.
Oh, Georgetowners...
I understand the need to be concerned about safety, but I'm just glad someone's emptying the trash cans.
Lemme tell ya, four-ton garbage trucks do wonders for grass, turf, and topsoil. Particularly when you peel out and do donuts. YEEEE-HAW!
And they're doing this because they're too lazy to get out of the f***ing truck and WALK to the garbage can? They're thinking smarter, not harder!
I would like it if DPW would start a new policy of picking my trash can all the way up and over, so it actually emptied out the bottom half one day, instead of just skimming off whatever was loose on top.
I got like 3 points on my license and a $250 fine for pulling a similar stunt in my honda accord back in high school. Oh the rebel I was; who knew I just needed to be driving a trash truck???
It's hard enough keeping unleashed dogs out of any given park... But if the driver was ..say doing this method of collection on either east potomac park's or rock creak park's golf courses i'll wager DPW would have caught holy hell for it a long time ago. Linda Grant would be demoted to riding the back of the garbage truck.
What happens if some "artist" has attached a bear to the trash can in order to draw attention to the plight of trash cans? Are the drivers allowed to run them over? Mount them to the front of the truck as a hood ornament?
Wait a minute Kmax, are you saying you got 3 points for picking up city park trash in your Honda Accord? :)
Ummmmm. I'd take a guess that the baby carriage belongs to the owner of the camera.
A public safety announcement to Georgetown Mommies: Stay away from garbage trucks, crazy squirrels and doggy poo-poo.
I thought the thumbnail pics that have the stroller in there were from a first-person-shooter, was wondering what type of raygun that was.....
I see the National Park Service crews doing the same thing on the Mall, and they wonder why the turf on the Mall looks a frathouse lawn after an all-night kegger.
SO if the mommy was taking pictures of this "hazardous" garbage truck, who was watching her child to make sure they weren't getting into any other hazard. I suppose this is georgetown so the answer would be the nanny.
No one was injured . . .
That there's some quality concern trolling, DCist!
That is some elegantly lazy shit. The 2008 golden refuse can award definitely goes to those guys, who put the z in lazy. the silver goes to the guys all over town who toss cans across the alley leaving a trail of bottom garbage every single week without giving up.
"the silver goes to the guys all over town who toss cans across the alley leaving a trail of bottom garbage every single week without giving up."
No kidding. They can't manage to get all the trash into the truck when the can is mere inches away. You think they're going to wheel a Supercan, by hand, all the way across a park? Around here they won't even pick up the can and invert it into the truck. They just grab the uppermost bag and toss it in, oftentimes missing a second bag in the can. In my experience the crews are very lightly supervised and pretty much do as they please. Calls of complaint about half-assed trash pickup go un-returned.
Why don't they use those mini refuse trucks? They are no larger than the maintenance vehicles that golf courses use, and they won't leave ruts in the turf. See? The need for DPW employees to maintain their laziness, protecting the integrity of our public spaces and general public safety can all work out. OTH, if the garbage man wants to plow under a yuppie lady and her brood in a $1000 Mclaren--it's all up to him.
An interested trash collection tidbit: When I was a young man growing up on the mean streets on suburban Cleveland, we had these mini-trash trucks that always escorted the main trash truck. It was sort of like the mother ship and her minions, or like the Yamato with a full escort of destroyers.
The little truck would zoom down your driveway, the driver would hop out, dump your trash into the mini-truck, then he'd zoom off to the next drive way until he was full. then he'd back track to the large rumbling presence of the almighty mega truck, into which he (and the rest of the trash armada) would dump their trash.
Anyone else have this experience?
...should city garbage trucks really be driving across recreation areas where children might be running around, not paying attention?
I know kids have short attention spans and can be easily distracted, but really? If you can't spot a 20-ton garbage truck coming at you at 15 miles per hour, you probably weren't going to survive to adulthood anyways.
"Calls of complaint about half-assed trash pickup go un-returned." That's the job for your ANC commissioner (that is if you have an effective and concerned commissioner).
I have found what works best is to draft a detailed letter and email it to them asking them to look into it (a picture might help too).
wow, damn...it's no wonder the grass in our parks gets destroyed. there is no freakin' logical answer for why DPW would be running 5-ton behemoths across the fields, compacting the soil and causing damage.
way to out them, dcist! muckraking at its finest!
@ClevelandRocks: How spiffy! Sounds like fun entertainment for the kids - provided they don't get run over by the Mother Ship.