Wanna-be sanitation workers who have waited a long time for their numbers to be called off the civil service list got some good news last week.

The city has agreed to let the Sanitation Department hire 401 new workers over the next few months to beef up the agency’s thinning ranks.

Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said he is hoping to create four classes over the next four months to get new workers trained far ahead of the snow season.

“Our budgeted number at this point is 6,124 and we’re down to about 5,880,” Doherty told The News. “It’s a reasonable number and a compromise between being able to do the job and budgetary constraints.”

Doherty pointed out the agency had 6,029 sanitation workers in December 2011 but dipped down to 5,891 less than six months later.

“It’s a very physical job and it takes a toll on the body in 20 years,” said Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association. “That’s why they leave as soon as they can get a chance to leave.

Nespoli said he was happy to learn the department was hiring workers but thinks it could use even more.

“It’s not enough for me,” said Nespoli. “I think you need like 6,800 to fight a major storm or a major blizzard. But this will get us back up to where we feel is a good workable number.”

The city and the union are anxious to put behind memories of the massive December 2010 storm that left many New Yorkers stranded.

“I think they don’t want to get caught short like they did two winters ago,” said Nespoli.

New sanitation workers go through about three weeks of training, ranging from lectures and classroom work to hands-on practice at Floyd Bennett Field.

“It will be good to get some fresh blood into the department,” said Doherty.

If you are on the current sanitation worker list, here is some important information:

l The current list, established in Feb. 2008 is #6063. It was extended to Feb. 2014.

l The last appointment, according to the city, was #1,549.

For more information check the Department of Citywide Administrative Services website at www.nyc.gov/dcas.

JOHN FRANCO T—SHIRTS RETURN

Former New York Mets hurler John Franco has always embraced his roots with the New York City Department of Sanitation.

They were a part of his celebration and his speech as he was inducted into the Mets’ Hall of Fame on Sunday.

Franco’s father, Jim, was a sanitation worker who died on the job of a heart attack in 1987. He paid homage to him by often wearing an orange Sanitation Department t-shirt under his Mets uniform.

Those t-shirts, which included Franco’s name and number 45 on the back, routinely sold-out when they were first offered at Shea Stadium back in 2000.

At the time, Franco told me he was thrilled to know fans were anxious to don the t-shirts as a show of support.

“It’ll touch my heart, really,” he said during an interview on the field at Shea in October 2000. “I’ll have mine on, too. My father gave his heart and soul to the job.”

And now, the t-shirts are back.

Franco recently visited his father’s former garage, Brooklyn South 11, to thank the workers and highlight his charitable work.

The shirts are for sale at www.johnfranco45.com. A portion of the proceeds are being donated to the DSNY Sanitation Employees Community Fund which provides education funds for the children of sanitation workers who died in the line of duty.

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Article From: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/city-signs-plan-hire-401-sanitation-workers-article-1.1089760#ixzz1wvsUgkAJ 

EDMONTON - Noisy garbage trucks won’t be rumbling down neighbourhood streets in the new City Centre Airport Lands. Instead, residents will dump their bags of waste into street-level garbage chutes that connect to an underground vacuum collection system, which will whisk the bags off to a nearby sorting plant.

The proposed community of 30,000 will also have “agri-hoods,” a term coined to describe residential areas with large green spaces between block of apartments and townhouses where people can grow food, city architect Barry Johns told about 250 people at the Food in the City Conference in the first update on the airport lands in many months.

If there are surplus vegetables, the city might be persuaded to put on a mobile farmers’ market in an LRT car and zip to another party of the city, said Johns, adding local food production is a key element of the community plan.

“There are about 1,000 community garden plots in Edmonton and that number will almost double when the airport lands are built out,” said Johns, adding that rooftop gardens will be part of the mix.

If all goes well, migrating birds will use the wetlands being built on the north end of the site near stormwater lakes where he hopes kids will be able to wade.

The master plan for the projected community north of downtown is getting the final touches and will go before council this fall, said Johns. Construction could start in two years and student housing for NAIT is ready to go.

Johns’ firm, in a joint venture with Vancouver firm Perkins and Will, is devising architectural guidelines in the plan to ensure buildings meet the goals of a carbon neutral housing as mandated by council.

The density of the new community will be about 55 housing units per hectare, lower than the central community of Oliver at 70 units per hectare, but much higher than the 1950s’ Westwood community at 10 units per hectare. Vancouver’s False Creek has 100 units per hectare.

Heating and electricity for the entire community will be provided by a biomass heating plant on the site, said Johns, adding there have been talks with a number of private utility companies interested in building the plant.

Water use in Edmonton is about 209 litres per person per day, and the airport lands will aim for an average of 138 litres daily, party by using grey water to flush toilets.

A simple measure like getting rid of garbage trucks goes a long way to reduce carbon emissions and eliminate the need for wide alleys and roads, he said.

The city will install the services and then plots of land will be sold off to developers, he said.

Despite the environmental conditions put on buildings, Johns said he did not think there would be difficulty attracting developers to start building in the community, which will have very few single-family homes, but many townhouses and four-storey apartments.

“The market is changing. Young urban people are demanding a quality of life and want crowds,” said Johns.

Also, retiring boomers don’t want to live in suburbia.

Some delegates expressed concern that building houses to higher environmental standards might make them more costly.

Johns said one solution is to take the costs of a parking stall out of a the price of a condo for people who do not have a car. That could save $50,000 to $75,000 on a condo priced at $350,000, he said.

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Article from:  http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/Garbage+will+sucked+underground+proposed+Edmonton+airport+lands+development/6685279/story.html

Though nearly four decades have passed since then-Greenwich resident Briggs Baugh spearheaded the town's recycling program, he said his friends still hail him as the uncontested "garbage czar."

Settling into his armchair amid clutter of a week's recyclable goods awaiting pickup, the bespectacled Baugh, now living in Stamford, recounted Earth Day 1970 as the genesis of his commitment to the environment. At the request of the first selectman, he coordinated a humble volunteer effort that year to recycle cans and paper goods in collaboration with Greenwich High School, then translated it into a mission for town recycling.

"The thing about pioneers is that, when you're ahead of the pack, you get arrows in your back," said Baugh. "When I started advocating for recycling, my friends thought I was a nutcase because recycling hadn't yet appeared on the scene."

Though his labors to develop a recycling program were a "frequent uphill battle," said Mary Hull, executive director of Greenwich Green & Clean and a longtime friend, Baugh eventually helped his hometown become one of the state's best recycling communities.

The Connecticut Recyclers Coalition, which educates and advocates for improved recycling, recently honored Baugh's achievements with its Recycling Pioneer award.

"He was very creative and ahead of his time," Hull said. "He was really an innovator who was doing stuff that no one had thought of before. People said recycling would never happen, but he got people excited about the future."

One of his most significant contributions was his formation of the Greenwich Recycling Advisory Board, which created a drop-off center for recyclables and continues as an advocate for the town's environment. He served as its first chairman and published its quarterly newsletter, "GRAB Bag," which explained the process of recycling after 1987 state legislation made it mandatory. He also negotiated a deal with Marcal Paper Mills to form a mixed paper drive that saved the town over $1 million, he said.

"Greenwich has tended to be a forerunner in recycling," said current board Chairman Sally Davies, who cited Baugh as a driving force behind innovation in the town's recycling. "One of the amazing things about Briggs is that he is as excited about recycling as he was 40 years ago. He has such enthusiasm."

The town's recycling program now continues to modernize, having switched last August to a single-stream system in which all recyclable goods are mixed into a collection truck and sorted at a resource recovery facility.

Patrick Collins, assistant superintendent at the Holly Hill facility, said single-stream has nearly doubled recycling in Greenwich -- 977 tons were collected from blue bins this February, compared to 527 tons in February 2011.

Baugh said he is heartened by how his successors have continued his mission of sustainable living. "There is a greater appreciation for the treasure of our planet."

Baugh exercises his enthusiasm for recycling at home by leaf composting in his backyard and creating art from recycled bottle caps.

"At his house, you can't eat at his dining room table because it is full of recycled products that he doesn't want to throw away," Hull said, laughing.

While Baugh never anticipated becoming a leader in Greenwich recycling, he said he eagerly took on the role when he realized that his plans had the potential to significantly reduce waste and do a service to the environment.

"When there's a new idea, somebody has to be a voice for it," Baugh said.


Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Garbage-Czar-Greenwich-native-a-recycling-3547203.php#ixzz1uTiDvRNo 

To choose new collection equipment for its single-stream recycling program, Charleston County, S.C., carefully devised a head-to-head contest.