From my DH::


This morning, I went to the Town of Hempstead Transfer Station in Merrick (the dump) to drop off some garbage. Like I've done dozens of times since we bought the new house, we sorted the trash, bagged it, loaded it into the car and headed down to Merrick. At the dump, the guard told us we could dump today but after today they would no longer be accepting anything other than regular house garbage. NO landscape trash, no demolition trash, no metals, no appliances, no wood, no windows/doors. Just regular garbage. He went further to say that the dump had been operating illegally, had no permits for years, and was finally fined by the DEC and shut down by the town. Now I will say I have not confirmed this information with the town yet, but since the guy who told me was driving a town vehicle, I’ll consider it to be at least close to accurate. My problem with this is WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY and what are they doing with all our TAX MONEY? Regardless of your political affiliations, you might be willing to agree that we pay HIGH taxes and deserve HIGH LEVEL services. If it is true that they had been operating illegally because they never paid for permits from the government, SOMEONE needs to pay for this.

So going forward, what are we going to do? We DESERVE the same privileges that other areas of the state and country get, like a transfer station to bring debris to without having to pay money for a dumpster. With no transfer station, dumpster prices will increase when the dumpster companies realize the public has no alternative. In addition, pollution will increase when the public gets too frustrated or lazy to follow the new regulations. It’s small but high impact changes like this that can change the quality of life for the entire population.

I’m willing to provide a compromise. In other areas of the state, transfer stations charge 1 dollar for large bags of trash, demolition debris, and other calculations by the yard for large loads. Recycling, landscaping, and metal debris is free. Why could we not do the same thing? That should offset the cost of operating the facility and still provide a service to the community.

Bottom line, the town government who claims to be watching out for us has failed in providing a basic service to the community, regardless of the cause. The amount of money we pay to live in this area REQUIRES the provision of these services and the anything less is unacceptable. Please let your opinions be known to our elected representatives.