Required Service or "Cadillac Service"

Much of Ms Harding's argument stems from the fact that she asserts that the service is not required. She questions why we need to prepare garbage before pickup, and why not just clean it up after. She also wants surveys, email reminders, telephone calls and the like to remind owners when to put it out, what to put out and what is not acceptable to put out to be picked up.

She also suggested that people could "sign up" for these reminders. I would argue that people don't want to be bothered with that kind of nagging, friendly or not. Everyone receives a calender every year from the City with the dates on it, and what recycling day it is. The people who sign up for such services as Ms Harding proposes are not the ones who need it. People just want to get the garbage out, either Thursday night or Friday morning, and be done with it. Some people package it properly, others do not. Some put it out when they are supposed to, others are late. Some are a week early and don't put it out properly (as with the bed-frame and bookshelves that were put out Sunday this past week on one garbage pad). There has also been a bag (I can only assume containing dog poop) sitting on the patio stone where a garbage bin once stood, for at least 2 days (this being Wednesday). Whether we like it or not, people walk their animals through Costello Gardens who are not residents and they don't care about what happens. All I know for sure is that the bag would be in a garbage bin right now as opposed to sitting on the ground where animals (or children for that matter) can get into.

In the end, I personally don't care what other Associations do. I have driven down Monterey Dr. on a Saturday morning and seen firsthand the various messes that are left behind in many instances. Not always, but on many occasions. I also know darn well that a similar mess would sure as heck not have been found on Costello Gardens garbage pads in the past. Lo and behold, the first week of the hiatus from preparation, there were empty containers left behind on at least 2 of the 4 pads, and they remained there for more than a couple of days.

I was not living here before the preparation system was started and therefore I cannot attest to how it was, all I know is that since we have moved in to the neighborhood 2 years ago, the grounds have been mostly litter-free, and the garbage pads have been very clean. It was one of the things that attracted us to Costello Gardens in the first place.