Rodent-resistant garbage totes to be rolled out

[steven]

If all goes as scheduled, Amherst residents will begin receiving their new garbage totes as early as Wednesday, Charles Moses, the town’s acting senior refuse control officer, said Friday.

Deliveries of the two-wheel, covered garbage containers will begin in rural north Amherst and move southward throughout May. Town officials hope to hand out all 34,000 of the totes by Memorial Day, Moses said.
Amherst bought the totes, or rollout carts, with the proceeds of a $1.7 million bond in hopes of controlling a growing rat menace, especially along the town’s borders with Cheektowaga and Buffalo.

Buffalo saw a drastic reduction in rodent complaints after distributing the totes in 2001.

But then the rats apparently followed the food source to the suburbs, where garbage was still in plastic bags. Initially, residents will receive a single, 95-gallon tote per household. Once the first round of deliveries is completed, residents can request smaller, 65-gallon versions of the wheeled carts — or they may order a second large tote for $50, Moses said.

The town’s $212 annual garbageremoval fee will not be affected, Moses said.

http://www.buffalonews.com/104/story/60124.html

[|- Amherst Stakeholder -|]

I don't know who the acting director is or what his background/experience is, but I would think that one would want to begin the program where the biggest problem/nuisance is to get the biggest and quickest result.

Is there a bigger rat issue in the northern parts of town. I've always heard that for the most part the biggest issues are south of Sheridan Drive.

Common sense?

[buffy]

from experience I know that there is a big problem in Eggertsville & Snyder

I was actually going to buy a couple of these cool Savannah cats and breed them...figured they'd sell, my Siamese got her a$$ kicked while battleling a gang of rats. She took out three, but got bit and infected, cost me over $200 at the vet.

[|- Amherst Stakeholder -|]

from experience I know that there is a big problem in Eggertsville & Snyder...

That's why I woulde think that the toters would be sent o those areas first. Why start them where the problem isn't as bad? It just does not make good sense.

[buffy]

I say, start in the Amherst first ring villages - Eggerstville & Snyder and keep driving the rats North, but, who's going to tell Williamsville?

[dags]

they are already in williamsville

[The Constable]

That's why I woulde think that the toters would be sent o those areas first. Why start them where the problem isn't as bad? It just does not make good sense.

Why not start where the problem MIGHT not be as bad to ensure when the rats start to move they have no food source. Besides if one lives on the Northside of the town they wouldn't want EGGERTSVILLE rats; it would ruin the neighborhood. The Eggersville rats would have to move to Clarence.

[Gandalf]

Why not start where the problem MIGHT not be as bad to ensure when the rats start to move they have no food source. Besides if one lives on the Northside of the town they wouldn't want EGGERTSVILLE rats; it would ruin the neighborhood. The Eggersville rats would have to move to Clarence.

The LAST thing we want is Eggertsville rats!! We have enough with the Wards!

[therising]

my Siamese got her a$$ kicked while battleling a gang of rats. She took out three, but got bit and infected

What is she, Jack Bauer?

[Shasta13]

from experience I know that there is a big problem in Eggertsville & Snyder

I was actually going to buy a couple of these cool Savannah cats and breed them...figured they'd sell, my Siamese got her a$$ kicked while battleling a gang of rats. She took out three, but got bit and infected, cost me over $200 at the vet.

My friend had a Main Coon cat. He is quite the ratter. Main Coon cats are huge, which is a plus in taking on big ratties.

I saw a rat the other evening in front of the neighbor's house and found a yound one dead under our pine tree here in Cheektowaga. They were the first two I had seen, or found any evidence of in quite a while.

[|- Amherst Stakeholder -|]

I'd just like to hear the official "excuse" for nt being able to deliver garbage cans according to an intended plan. Are the Town Of Amherst employees just too lazy? Why haven't they been delivered to points southwest of Maple and North Forest Roads. THat's a BIG miscalculation. No excuse that I can image could be justified. The employees are most likely to blame. they like failure.

[Surface Tension]

Maybe they're just too busy hauling load after load of tree debris from all over the Town. I have seen areas where they've picked up the debris and then residents put out more.

I'm not an efficiency expert but you seem to know everything steakolder, so why don't you calculate how long each of these tasks take, find out how many employees are working, factor in no overtime and let us know what you come up with. It may surprise you to find out that with the number of workers they have available they have accomplished a great deal.

Since you like expressing yourself so much, why not go to a Bored meeting and give them your opinion and suggestions on how to speed up the work. Maybe you can even suggest that since the new comptroller isn't doing all the work that the old comptroller did he probably has time on his hands and can deliver totes a couple of hours a day. Another approach would be to volunteer your services to the highway department and give them a hand. It would make you feel good and improve the quality of life in your neighborhood. Or get in your car and follow one of the trucks, video tape their progress and feel like a damn fool when you find out that they actually do work.

[Dvoakley]

The employees didn't make the distribution schedule, the "All knowing" made the schedule . They're the ones who should have made the deliveries. Can't you just see Shelly with sweat dripping from her furrowed brow as she struggles to handle a 95 gallon tote.