The Horrible Things Mayor Nutter has Done!

...is actually a really, really, really short list.

Part of the reason for the name change and keeping this blog alive came from the simple fact that I also wanted to keep an eye on the Nutter Administration and, overall, it's been 99% effective from what I can see. But there is, at the very least, one STUPID, IDIOTIC, HORRIBLE thing he wants:

He Wants You To Pay for the City to Pick Up Your Trash

The Nutter administration is researching whether to charge residents for trash collection, according to city officials.

Environmental experts say this would encourage recycling because there is typically no charge for collecting recyclable waste.

And the fees would help pay for trash collection and disposal, which currently costs the city $95 million a year, according to Deputy Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams.

Why is this such a stupid and horrible idea? Aside from the obvious fact that we already pay sanitation fees to have our trashed picked up, there's also the fact that his recycling program, which I think is great, isn't being pushed hard enough. First off, there actually is a law in place stating that, yes, you must recycle in the City of Philadelphia or pay a fine. Not only that, but there are a lot of things the CITY needs to do in order to get us to recycle more:

• Aside from the TV ads and billboards, simply either mail the information about the single-stream recycling program to everyone or put little door-hangers on all the homes. This has worked in the past when it came to changes, this should be implemented now.
• Recycling Bins in Center City. Think about it; we already have trash cans, why not have a blue can for recycling? Information on the sides state it's for recycling, and you can only put in metal, paper, and plastic. That creates awareness of the program and gets more people recycling.
• Following through with the law and actually having sanitation workers give houses warning tickets that they need to start recycling. If the house fails to after 2 weeks, they get fined.
• Give all citizens new recycling bins with a nice and simple reminder; "Recycle or get fined."

While some of these methods may be a little costly at first, the long term savings from these initiatives would more than make up for it. The recyclcing cans in Center City alone will do more to show the world that Philadelphia is cleaning its act, allow citizens to do more to clean up and, if it works there, should be spread throughout other sections of Philadelphia.