Frankly, I feel I AM being priced out of this city.
My property tax goes up faster than my income regardless of all evidence of the poor health of the economy.
(My neighbor across the street has moved & has been trying to sell that house for almost a year & there's at least 1 For Sale sign on each block)
Those city services you speak of, while not a majority part, contribute to being priced out of the city.
I certainly agree with all the points in the petition. I have the same size trash can as everyone else, but mine is normally 1/8 full (just 1 person in household) versus most neighbors who need a 2nd can.

Here's where you can read all about recycling in Ho-Town


http://www.houstontx.gov/solidwaste/recycling.html

I live in a Townhouse in NW Houston and needless to say there is no recycling but thank goodness a HEB grocery store near me does (plastic bags in the store, several dumpsters outside, 1 for bottles another for paper, cardboard etc) and WOW they (that store) gets a lot of stuff back for recycling (and it helps their sales) - anyway a question, where is a good place for e-waste (westpark) ? I have a old CRT television, a couple non working and or very old computers & monitors stacked up in a corner looking for a final resting place ...

Previous link - bottom of the page:


"Electronic Scrap Recycling
Residential electronic scrap items accepted by the City of Houston are monitors, televisions, printers, keyboards, mice, scanners, fax machines, telephone handsets, VCRs, CPUs, cellular phones without batteries and other small consumer electronics.

Computers and related components contain hazardous materials that can leach into a community's water supply. Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), circuit boards, batteries, and mercury switches contain hazardous materials, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium.

Electronic scrap items can be dropped off at the Westpark Consumer Recycling Center or the Environmental Service Center (South and North).

I have found that most people do what is most convenient. I live in a 4 story apartment complex where we have a trash chute on each floor. There is a recycling center near by that I use and that is fine. If the complex were to have put a recycling chute in the complex the level of recycling would be far greater. For that matter, if all apartment complexes made recycling points closer than trash points, use would increase dramatically. A simple distance of 100-150ft would lead people in multi-unit housing to recycle out of convenience.

I know it sounds too good to be true, but I heard Ed Chen [City of Houston] describe two pilot compost programs at a compost meeting recently: Presently, the city is doing a pilot compost program for its own [for example: right of way, esplanades, etc.] brush and tree work--unloading at composting sites. They plan to totally compost all city brush and trees beginning at the end of summer. They also plan a pilot program for yard waste [the composting facility at Tanner Road is testing bags and pick-up now] using translucent [to make sure it's not household trash] compostable bags. They are trying. In the middle of the summer, yard waste makes up about half of the Houston landfill load, so every bit helps---and we all would do well to celebrate our own "pilot programs".

HC,

Thanks for this update, it sounds like good news. I agree they are trying, but far greater resources need to be brought to bear. The city constantly starts up "test beds" and "pilot programs" but they never expand sufficiently to have a meaningful impact, it seems to me.

Leo Gold

besy-buy may save me a trip to westpark
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_on_hi_te/best_buy_recycling

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