that's not cool... downtown would be worse than fair haven if left up to its own devices. don't pull your subtle racist rhetoric here.

community involvement is also very important , as to me being subtle not true .

It's pretty disgusting how people trash up their own cities and towns without concern. I see this all over New Haven, since I walk most places. Efforts have been made but residents ignore pleas and signs to not litter. There is something wrong inside of a person who needs to trash his/her own city.

Since fair haven is becoming highly densely populated of renters this will happen which promotes "this is not mine" attitude. Now that street cleaning has begun "now only once a month as posted" this will be a problem in most sections of fair haven

landlords should make tenants liable for littering and city warn / landlords .

There's a large population of pedestrians in Fair Haven and many of them think nothing of throwing their trash on the ground as they walk by, without bothering to find a trash can. It's next to impossible to catch and/or make them liable; education needs to start with the very young. I pick up an amazing amount of trash that blows into my yard just from those passing by--lots of junk food wrappers, school papers, dime bags, condoms and cigar packaging. It's incredibly frustrating!

@ fairhaven res. i agree its really imposible to impose not littering , myself and another neighbor get alot of.compliments of how clean we keep our properties , Adds curve appeal . we tell people its us two , imagine what a whole community could do . we also find lots of cigar wrappings and other gross litter.

Re gross litter, I see condoms and drug paraphernalia all over New Haven. Thank street gangs for this. PS - It's "curb appeal."

O ne of the problems I have noticed around a good part of FAIR HAVEN is that alot of peoples leave their trash cans out in front of their house and just keep throwing the trash out in front of their houses.This leads to unsafe conditions in and around the property. The public works dept. should give these people some kind of warning about leaving the trash cans out in front of their houses.O nly put you cans out the night before the pick up day.

Actually Carl, I have discovered that people walking by will use my trash bin to discard their litter; otherwise they'd be throwing it on the street / sidewalk. It actually helps to keep things cleaner when trash receptacles are provided. I don't think having to leave my trash bin out by the curb is the best solution, but it has been cutting down on the litter!

It's pathetic how people in Fair Haven will disgard trash onto the street when there's a trash can five feet away. Having the city pick up after these people is not the answer. I feel bad for the people do do take pride in their neighborhood. The city gives a lot to that area of the city, unfortunately there's no appreciation from the ones who only take.

A Westville resident took an old metal trash can and set it on the corner, spray painted a message on it about using the trash can for their garbage. I guess they bag the stuff every week and put it in their bins for the city to pick up. You might also wish to request that more city trash receptacles be placed on your streets. (The black bar ones.)

There are several problems that need to be resolved in order to help solve this issue... the first is that the city needs to buy more trash cans. we cannot get them fast enough because some people are literally stealing them and sometimes they are somehow misplaced.

The second is that many of the residents poop where they live. Our dog is smart enough not to do that...

the third is that there is a lot of illegal dumping in the city of new haven and i'm uncertain that the city does what it can do in order to resolve the issues. both the residents and the government itself.

the fourth, and im not even sure this is true but i heard it was and it makes sense as it adds up with the things that i see; The city does not allow some units (apartments/houses) to have more than 1 brown toter and they will not collect from any other kind of trash can. this results in toters overflowing with trash and sometimes the trash falls out of the toter and lands on the floor. combine this with number 2...

The fifth reason is that when the city came out with its brilliant toter idea, they first gave out blue toters and told everyone that they were the garbage cans... later they dropped off the brown ones and tried to get the residents who cant be bothered to pick up their own trash to remember that they are no longer supposed to put the trash in the empty blue toters but to put the trash in the overflowing brown toters....

ill get off my soap box now....

Odis, I have one problem with your post - you completely ignore the fact that the City gave us new, smaller toters so as to encourage RECYCLING. The old large blue toters are now for recycling only, and the city will only collect garbage from brown toters. Recycling is THE LAW - everyone should be doing it. If everyone recycled all that the city accepted, the brown toters would never be filled to the brim, and overflowing, as many are. We would also have much less litter, as plenty of the litter lining our city's streets are recyclable materials that should be placed in blue toters. The city even attached informational letters and brochures (in plastic bags nonetheless, lest it rain) along with every new brown toter, to let people know about The New System. This was YEARS AGO. Are you really trying to say that people still have a right to be ignorant to this? Bottom line - RECYCLE. IT IS THE LAW. (And I still advocate fining residents who do not recycle.)

"Odis, I have one .... encourage RECYCLING."
- Yes but the smaller toters are about the size of a large trash can, and are quickly filled by many residents. There are several tricycles that are cheap and easily broken but are also big enough to fill that brown toter.

"The old large blue.... garbage from brown toters."
- Yes and how many residents follow this? How many residents bother to read street signs/drive safely/yield at crosswalks much less read a pamphlet tapped/sticker stuck to their old trash can?

"Recycling is THE LAW - everyone should be doing it."
- well i am glad we can still agree 100%

"If everyone recycled all that the ....... do not recycle.)"
- Well i am glad we still agree but your still skipping over the fact that many of the residents (granted i may only be speaking about anywhere from 40% to 10% of the total residents with varying degrees of cleanliness and many of them under age 18) don't care enough to walk 5 feet to the trash can in order to keep their city clean. Additionally, many of the residents who do litter won't pay money unless you can hold something over their head, and taking someone to court over 100 bucks is a little silly. However, if you feel so inclined, you may but i don't see how i can make anyone pay a fine.

Odis......very well stated, I agree with everything you say

Things obviously move like molasses when it comes to things like this, and I mean by the City. I read an article yesterday regarding LCI and how they are trying to collect on fines, but apparently the city has no reliable system of home ownership!! They don't even know who/how to contact homewowners/landlords, are you kidding me??? Amazing how little gets done by overpaid city workers, whom I have seen post to the city's Facebook page, things like "Chilling out at work, watching a movie on YouTube." REALLY?!

I previously suggested that DPW allow its workers to track home by home, which residents recycle and which do not, and fine the landlords/homeowners that do not recycle. If it is a rental, the landlord must pay the fine for its renters NOT recycling, or pass it on to them in the form of increases in rent. This is the only way people will change - when it hits their pockets.

But first, the City needs to make its UNION workers actually do some work. They need reliable contact information for every landlord/homeowner, which should obviously be mandatory, but the lack of reliable ownership documentation just proves that many city workers and city departments have not been doing their jobs for a very long time.

We will have new leadership very soon, I urge all those who care about the city's future to contact the mayoral candidates to get their responses to these issues. LCI and DPW need to be able to collect on fines. "Between July 1, 2012, and March 26, 2013, LCI issued $77,000 worth of fines to property owners..." And that was just for blight! LCI is a necessary city department which helps to keep New Haven as decent looking as possible. But if they never collect on fines, people know they will get away with every offense, forever. Something needs to be done. HIT PEOPLE IN THEIR POCKETS.

Once people are forced to recycle or pay fines, you will see less trash.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/lci_fines/

If the city of New Haven comes after me for the fines i will launch a counter suit for entrapment. If the city will not provide more trash cans and will not allow me to provide my own, then the city cannot expect me/my tenets to dispose of the trash properly.

@ guest
Not only do i not believe this would be considered entrapment, there is a saying, "You can't fight city hall." Granted, they may have to prove that those are your trash/recycling toters, which may be achieved just by taking a picture of it at your house inspite of the tracking program that was rumoured to be too expensive for New Haven to purchase, but I believe that you would have to prove the intent of the "law enforcement agent."

Guest is obviously not recycling, which is against the law. You have no leg to stand on. If you recycled all that the city accepts, you wouldn't need more garbage toters. Also, I think you need to look up "entrapment" in the dictionary.

So driving to work this morning, turned off my street and there was a police officer pulled over sitting in his cruiser, and what do I see him do.... he takes a handful of ripped up paper and throws it out of his car window into the street... How are we supposed to have a nice community if the police can't even put their trash in the right spot??

Gilly many in my area have watch the same with city workers eating lunch and throwing it our there windows? Why?

Gilly, the best course may have been to report the officer. It is a terrible situation when those who are supposed to enforce the laws are the very ones who are breaking them, and when facing a problem this large and this difficult to control, you have to start wherever your feet happen to be.

BTW BJG, i looked up the definition and i think he may have a shot if the city cannot deploy enough toters to the residents.
"The act of government agents or officials that induces a person to commit a crime he or she is not previously disposed to commit." - http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/entrapment
"To lure into performing a previously or otherwise uncontemplated illegal act." - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Entrapment
"The critical factor in the defense of entrapment is that the person would not have committed the crime but for the actions of the government, in other words that the person was *otherwise unwilling*." - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070807220417AA3wKwv

If a family cannot fit all their garbage into the single toter that is given to them on a weekly basis, they get fined. I'm sure every family has issues fitting their trash into their cans/toters on christmas or birthdays or other such occasions as moving and so i cannot see how any person can dictate that any other person is not using their toters/trash cans properly without fully knowing everything about them including what items they put into which. I was unable to obtain specifically which items New Haven recycling accepts online but i do know that a cardboard box is recyclable but a pizza box isn't and that's just the tip of the exceptions.

The list of items that can now be recycled is quite extensive and is available here: http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Sustainability/PDFs/Recycling%20V3.pdf

My experience with many residents in Fair Haven (but not all) is that they do not recycle everything that can be recycled, and thus fill up their trash bin far too soon. Mixed paper is a big one; so many more paper items can be recycled than people realize.

I agree that the garbage totes are rather small. I'm a single person and I have to squeeze the bags down tight, then I am able to fit 2 or 3 bags (depending on how much trash in each bag). Every day I see blue and brown bins filled to the gills and then some. I see that a lot of people don't break down big boxes. I have quite a bit of recylable material, what with cat food cans, newspapers, food boxes, etc. I break down and fold all the boxes, or use a utility knife to cut up the bigger, thicker boxes, and I can fit a ton of stuff in the tote. I don't have a lot of big plastic bottles (milk, etc), but when I do, I stomp on them to crush them. However, doing this takes a few minutes, so it's less work when you just throw it willy nilly and wait for someone else to clean up their crap.

The city, or whichever organization oversees this, should keep after both tenants and landlords. I moved to the Fair Haven area about ten years ago and it was so much cleaner then. There are some beautiful streets and homes in Fair Haven, but it's beginning to look like a pig sty. It's a shame -- so many people worked hard to purchase their homes and they do a fine job of keeping the houses in shape and their yards and front walk clean. Kudos to these folks and shame on those that have no respect for other people's property, and trash whatever they want.

P.S. I am a tenant

Thanks FairHaveRes. We recycle already but I'm sure there's more stuff I could recycle, I'll definitely check out the link when I get home tonight :)

AGAIN...one toter per floor is plenty, as long as one is recycling all that the city accepts. You can include pizza boxes in your recycling, as long as you cut out the greasy parts. Odis, you're belaboring points here that have already been addressed in this thread, just so you can feel "right." LCI fines, but as has been publicly documented, NO ONE IS PAYING THEM. And you are ignoring the fact that MORE TRASH (as opposed to recycling) = MORE LITTER. Seriously, stop acting like a child.

Gilly, it may not have led to anything but i think you should have written down his license plate number and reported him. its sad and unfortunate when those who are supposed to enforce the laws cannot respect them enough to follow them themselves. With a problem this wide spread and this complicated, the best place to start fixing the problem is wherever you happen to be at the time.

I definitely will next time, it all happened so fast and I was so shocked by it that I didn't even think of it. :)

I feel odd that the post i submitted first now shows up inspite of the error msg i got when i click comment and then didn't show up until after i submitted another response.

BJG this will be the last time I respond to you as it only appears to be angering you and generating spam for those following this issue which is not my intention and for that I am genuinely sorry, but that does not change many people's inability to fit all their trash into one toter. The city's attempt to force every person to recycle the way they are supposed to is only resulting in litter filled areas.

I wonder lead paint in more than .05 parts per million is considered hasderous to correct this all that is done is to dilute this with something so it becomes less than .05 parts per million. at our city dumps are we taking all of the delutents out of the waste to causing more problems

odis I believe the system is getting out of hand its becoming cops and the criminals. If you can connect the dots you will know me I recently had a fire in my three family home no one knows my buildings better than me I was trying to explain to the investigator what I think happened he continued to accuse me of starting the fire, or using something to accelerate the fire I got fed up and said I'm done you want answers I want an attorney. I was arrested for interfering with a fire investigation on a bunch of lies submitted by the fire investigator. I have to be in court again on 5/3/13. What a joke. I would like to bring him up on charges. I wanted to tell him what I thought happened and he just kept accusing me. I hope he reads this.

This issue was recategorized from Trash & Recycling to Other - city responsibility.

Just today I was driving down Grafton Street towards Ferry Street between Roe St.. After the trash was picked up, there was trash all over the ground near the trash cans. Either it was there when the garbage was picked up or something. But the people that live in the house should have cleaned it up.Later in the day I drove by that way again and the trash was still there. This shows that some people just don't care...

We are trying to delineate issues that are current and need the city's attention to resolve. Any issues prior to 2013 are being closed. If your issue remains and needs to be addressed by the city, please either re-open or open as a new See Click Fix issue. Thanks.