Willow Glen Resident | 0234

August 21, 2002 Willow Glen, California Since 1992

Garbage still a problem on Lincoln Avenue

By I-chun Che

Coffee cups are piled high on the public concrete garbage can at the intersection of Minnesota and Lincoln avenues. Newspapers are blown to the curb or fly in the air as cars drive by. Lincoln Avenue, the business corridor of Willow Glen, smells and looks bad.

"The garbage cans on Lincoln Avenue are always full," says Willow Glen resident Joanne Allen, 58, who often walks her poodle, Mickey, along Lincoln Avenue in the evening. "People just keep stacking into them."

Another Willow Glen resident, Danielle Navarrette, 35, thinks the garbage cans should be emptied more often.

"They are disgusting," says Navarrette, a regular of Starbucks Coffee. "The city doesn't collect the garbage often enough. I can't throw my garbage inside the cans. I have to put it on the top."

Currently Stevens Creek Disposal & Recycling, the city's new public garbage contractor, collects trash five days a week from the 44 public cans along Lincoln Avenue between Michigan and Coe avenues. But the frequent pickup schedule only alleviates the overflowing problem slightly. The garbage problem is still serious in heavily trafficked areas, such as outside the Starbucks Coffee at the corner of Lincoln and Minnesota avenues.

"Tissues, newspapers and cups are all over the streets," says Adriana Canales, a Starbucks supervisor. "I am always worried that some elderly people might trip over it and get injured. I am also worried the garbage might flow into the sewer line."

For the sake of the store's business and cleanliness, Canales sweeps the garbage every day. But she can only clean the rubbish that's fallen onto the street - public garbage cans are locked, preventing the bags from being removed except by city contractors.

The overflowing of garbage cans has long been a problem on Lincoln Avenue.

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association President John Gibbs says the problem results from the garbage cans' poor locations.

"The problem is not that there are not enough garbage cans," Gibbs says. "They are just poorly located. In the busy areas, the garbage cans are often full, and you have to walk a distance to reach the next one."

Many also consider the existing garbage cans unattractive. The 44 along Lincoln Avenue are square, made of concrete and equipped with a steel top. Some of them are brown and some are white. But no matter what their original color might be, the paint has peeled off because of years of use.

The city is currently processing a request by the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association and San Jose District 6 Councilman Ken Yeager's office to replace all the current garbage cans.

Walsh says the city's previous public garbage collecting contractor, Green Team, had bought 50 new green steel garbage cans and was expected to install them in July. But Green Team's contract expired on June 30 before the new cans were installed.

"We have been working with Green Team to resolve this," says Matthew Walsh, the assistant environmental specialist at the San Jose Environmental Services Department. "We hope to have the new cans installed in September."

The San Jose Environmental Services Department, which supervises the city's public garbage cans, has studied relocating some of the garbage cans on Lincoln Avenue, and according to Walsh, 17 of the cans are planned for new locations, decreasing the distance one will have to travel to reach the next. In the meantime, if merchants want to move a garbage can to a more heavily trafficked area, they just need to inform the Environmental Services Department of the new location.

Walsh has requested that a contractor pick up the garbage late Friday and early Monday to help with the weekend flow. The city will also cooperate with business owners and give them the keys to the garbage cans so they can help clean the debris.

"If worse comes to worst, we will put a Saturday collection in the contract, but it will be significantly more expensive," Walsh added.

Walsh reminds business owners not to put their own garbage in the public cans.

"While merchants' customer trash is expected in the can outside the business, trash generated by the merchants themselves is not to be placed in the can," Walsh said. "That is considered illegal dumping."