I am going to do some trash talking here. No, not about candidates, about actual trash.
I get it, really I do. Like many other people in town, there are plenty of items that I need to haul to the dump. My redneck roots are telling me to just set a fire and burn up the pallets I killed, using them for chicken fencing. There are many old feeders and other plastic items that need to go.
Alas, we have no municipal dump. There is light at the end of the tunnel, though. The city council and city manager are working to get our convenience center reopened. Right now there are two holdups. One, the ongoing construction on the water treatment plant makes it unsafe for John Q Public to run in and out of the joint with trucks and trailers full of trash. But the project is slated to be completed by the end of June, eliminating the safety issue.
That brings us to the other holdup, the city budget. The convenience center was not included in the 2025-26 budget. That means there is no money allocated for employees to be there running the center. And while our city employees are good folks, they can’t work for nothing. As luck would have it, the new budget year begins at the end of June, the same time as the construction project is completed.
So, with a lot of work and a little luck, especially where the weather is concerned, Watonga could have a functioning convenience center again by the end of July or the first of August. Good news all around.
There are also rumors that a citywide sweep will be made to take care of the old poly carts and dead dumpsters left to rot in the alleys and even a few streetside. That is more good news for the esthetics of the town.
But here is the biggest point about garbage, trash, old dumpsters and limbs, be they in the alley or in front of the house.
It isn’t the city’s responsibility to clean up your mess. Let me say that again. Not the city’s job.
There were people who, almost as soon as the volunteers finished cleaning the alleys they could tackle on April 18, put more trash out in the alley.
I cannot believe that in the three years since the city stopped its own trash routes, that these numbskulls haven’t heard that alley pickup isn’t a thing. It is just sheer laziness, lack of self-respect or plain trashiness on their part that they think they don’t have to adhere to the same rules as the rest of us.
How hard is it to understand that if you make garbage, put it in the poly cart and put that on the street on your garbage day? Is it some foreign idea that if you get a new refrigerator or washing machine you need to have the old one hauled away? Most shops that sell new furniture or mattresses offer haul-off services.
I cannot believe our citizens are so damned dumb they believe it is fine to put bulk trash on the sidewalk and the garbage truck will pick it up. I cannot believe they are fine with looking out the window for months to see an old mattress.
So, yeah, pick up after yourself. Take care of your bulk trash. If you need assistance, ask for it, is help available. The ‘no dump’ excuse isn’t going to be valid much longer. And was that really the reason the stuff accumulated in the first place? For the love of Pete, have a little self-respect. Cleanup isn’t the city’s job, although it has been more than willing to help.
It looks better than it did. Now let’s keep the momentum going and finish the job by taking responsibility for our own backyard, literally.