Garbage will be sucked underground in proposed Edmonton airport lands development

5/29/2012

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Picture
Image is a futuristic example and not a photo of the actual city.
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
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Boulder backs off bear-resistant trash bins in favor of education, 'bear pledge'

4/2/2012

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City will rely on education program rather than costly test program 
A pilot program to disperse bear-resistant trash bins in neighborhoods near Boulder's foothills has been scrapped because the budget would only allow for 33 homes to be outfitted with the costly receptacles -- and that's too small of a sample to be effective, according to city officials.

Instead, Boulder leaders plan to spend $10,000 on an educational campaign this spring -- one that will include going door-to-door to ask residents to take a "bear pledge" signaling their intention to secure their trash to prevent bears from rummaging through it, according to a city memo on the Black Bear Urban Wildlife Management Plan.


Each bear-resistant container costs roughly $225, according to the memo, which would mean the bins would be provided for just one or two city blocks. And, since bears' foraging patterns have varied from year to year, there's no guarantee they'd be highly active in the areas where the secured bins were being tested.

At the same time, officials with trash hauler Western Disposal aren't too enthusiastic about the bear-resistant bins, saying they haven't picked up in popularity among Boulder residents.

The bins resemble traditional containers but feature an inner locking mechanism that can be flipped open with a fingertip, said Western Disposal spokesman Dan Powers. And while they've proven effective, he hesitates to call them entirely "bear-proof."


Living with bears 
Black bears are curious and will east almost anything. Here's a few tips for preventing bears from visiting your neighborhood:

1. Secure your trash

2. Remove bird feeders

3. Keep barbecues clean

4. Keep pet food indoors

5. Keep garage doors closed

6. Secure windows and doors

7. Be responsible about trash and bird feeders

8. Don't leave food or trash inside your vehicle

9. Pick fruit before it ripens, clean up fallen fruit

Source: City of Aspen and Pitkin County 
A few years ago, the trash-hauling company purchased 200 of the bear-resistant bins for $40,000, said Bryce Isaacson, vice president of sales and marketing. But only 87 Boulder residents have purchased the bins -- which also cost $10 extra a month to service because it takes truck drivers longer to collect from the bins since they need to be manually opened.

"People are interested in them until they find out it costs more -- then they don't want them," Isaacson said. "The city is backing away because to go out and buy all those carts for just a small area is not economically justifiable."

A large-scale bear study in Durango includes a $250,000 budget for the distribution of bear-resistant trash bins this spring.

Valerie Matheson, Boulder's urban wildlife coordinator, said the city is interested in hearing from residents who already have the bear-resistant trash bins.

Concerns about bears

But the focus of the city's plan for dealing with black bears has shifted to be more about education. The efforts will target homes south of Arapahoe Avenue, east of Ninth Street and north of Baseline Road. Officials will begin visiting households in late April.  

Wildlife officials have reason to be concerned about bears foraging in trash cans as rangers have reported finding scat with traces of cigarette butts, aluminum foil and other household items, Matheson said.




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The treasure amid the trash

3/12/2012

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By:  Laura Byerley, College of Communication
At a typical movie premiere, stars dressed in thousand-dollar ensembles step out of limos and onto a red carpet. But at the Austin premiere of Associate Professor Andrew Garrison’s “Trash Dance,” stars dressed in neon city sanitation uniforms roll up in garbage trucks.

“Trash Dance” performers and choreographer Allison Orr take a bow.Courtesy of Andrew GarrisonBefore someone scoffs at their choice of transportation, Garrison wants people to see the unique beauty of the mucky 27-ton machines. After all, that was Garrison’s goal in directing, producing and recording “Trash Dance.”

The world premiere takes place during the South by Southwest® Film Conference and Festival (SXSW) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, at the Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave. After the premiere, the director, producer and cinematographer will host a premiere party and Radio-Television-Filmalumni gathering from 6-8 p.m. at Progress Coffee, 500 San Marcos St.

In “Trash Dance,” choreographer Allison Orr works with Austin sanitation workers and garbage trucks to create a dance performance. The film follows the daily lives of the employees and the rehearsal process that led to a final performance that features 16 trucks, 24 dancers, a piano, violin and cello.

Associate Professor and “Trash Dance” director Andrew Garrison is an award-winning independent filmmaker with experience in both documentary and dramatic film production.Garrison hopes viewers will be entertained and moved by the film.

“It speaks about dignity of work and the way that the work we do can be a conscious act of beauty,” Garrison said. “Art does not end at the edge of a stage or a museum door. The film also introduces you to the people who do this work every day. You know public employees are sometimes attacked as living off taxpayers’ money. You get to meet these people and see the effort they put into the job and their personal goals. I hope that makes a lasting impression.”

After the world premieres, Garrison will look into international television broadcast opportunities for “Trash Dance.”

Including “Trash Dance,” University of Texas at Austin faculty members, staffers and students are screening about 20 films at SXSW.http://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/03/09/trash_dance_garrison/ 

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