Did Someone “Lose” Their Sofa?

Soon after the auction of the lot upon which the Idle Gray will sit, someone “lost” their sofa on the sidewalk on the Grayland Avenue side of the property.  After filing a report via  SeeClickFix, the City’s Department of Public Works (DPW) removed the sofa.

Recently, DPW raised trash fees and changed their bulk trash collection program to a bi-weekly versus on-demand service. In moving to the new service, DPW excluded mattresses and upholstered furniture...you know, like a sofa that may have been lost on the sidewalk in front of your property. The Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote an article about the change.  Options for mattresses and upholstered furniture under the new program included hauling it to the dump yourself, paying $100 for a special pick up, or waiting for one of two annual neighborhood cleanup days (i.e., a sofa could sit on the sidewalk for up to 6 months).

Since the trash fee increase was supposed to "expand" the bulk trash program and because it seems unfair for responsible property owners to pay for cleanup of illegal dumping perpetuated by others, I spoke at the 2/26/18 City Council meeting in support of an ordinance sponsored by Councilwoman Gray that added mattresses and upholstered furniture back into the bulk trash program. The presidents of the Carver Area Civic Improvement League and the West Grace Street Association also spoke in support of the ordinance, while no citizens spoke in opposition to the ordinance. After an hour of debate and opposition by the Director of DPW, Council adopted ordinance 2018-027 in a 5-4 vote.  You can watch a video of the meeting here, and go to the 2:02:30 to 3:03:00 segment.

The new Bulk and Brush Collection program (that includes mattresses and upholstered furniture) should improve cleanliness of the City and prevent accumulations of dumped mattresses and upholstered furniture.