Getting to the Bottom of Trash Dumping in Shorewood

I have written about the problem of furniture, recyclables and trash dumped on the parkways in the village (the area between the sidewalk and the curb).

Several times I have called the Village Hall and have been transferred to both the Depart of Public Works and also the Planning and Development Department to report dumping on the parkways.  

Each time I called, there was NO action to have the dumped items removed!

Almost every holiday weekend during the past year, there has been dumped items on the parkways -- despite phone calls. 

The sight of dumped furniture and trash on the parkways in the village over holiday weekends, is especially unwelcome when we have had holiday guests over. Not a good way to build the kind of reputation Shorewood is trying to maintain, as a nice, wholesome, walkable community.

Recently I followed up by calling the administrators of both departments, to find out why we continue to have this dumping problem, and why phone calls to the Village do not help to get the dumped items removed.

I first talked to Leeann Butschlick, the Director of Public Works.

According to Ms Butschlick, the DPW only does special pickups on Thursdays.  And they need advance notice to schdule one. If someone puts out items on the parkway on a Friday, it will sit until the following Thursday -- IF it is called in to be picked up. If it is not called in, it may sit there even longer.

Ms. Butschlick said there is no set mechanism for the DPW to determine if items dumped in the parkway have been called in or not. And the DPW does not have enforcement power to write citations for Trash Dumping, that would be something the Planning and Development Department would have to do.

What the DPW can do is to charge double for a Special Pickup if items have been left out for more than 3 days -- but the catch 22 here is that since they ONLY do the Special Pickups on Thursdays, they do not normally charge that, as they cannot pick them up in three days unless the Special Pickup is called in soon enough before Thursday. 

Even if the pickup is called in before Thursday, the dumped items may still sit there for over a week, if the DPW runs out of hours to do all the Special Pickups they have scheduled.

From the Shorewood Website:

"A special collection must be prepaid and prearranged. Special collections are scheduled on Thursdays on a first-come first-served basis.  If refuse is left at the curb for three days or more without a scheduled special collection, the material will be picked up and the property owner invoiced at a double fee plus any overages."

Following my talk with Ms. Butschlick, I called Erika Lang, the Planning and Zoning Administrator and talked with her.

According to the Shorewood Website:

"The mission of the Planning and Development Department is to promote maintenance of property values and quality of physical environment throughout the Village through the administration of zoning, building and related codes, land use planning and the provision of technical assistance to elected and appointed boards."

I asked Ms. Lang why calls to her department did not result in having dumped trash picked up. She said that any calls they received regarding items in the parkway would be referred to the DPW.

I told her that the DPW could not always pick up the dumped trash on a timely basis, and asked what her department did in such cases. Ms. Lang quoted the 3 day rule and said that it had to be handled by the DPW.

The Village Code treats regular garbage differently from Special Pickups:

Garbage:  "Responsibility of residents. Residents shall move their approved containers from their storage point to a collection point in time for prompt collection by 7:00 a.m. on the designated collection day and shall return their approved containers to storage points from any curbside collection point by 8:00 p.m. on the day of collection"

Special Pickups: "When items such as furniture, tree trunks, root systems, tree limbs (over six inches in diameter) or other items requiring a special pickup are placed on the parkway, alley or in public view for collection and disposal and the Village has not received a request for a special pickup, such items shall be collected by the Village if they have remained in said location for three days; the owner of the private property located adjacent to said parkway shall be billed for the cost of said removal; if not paid timely, the cost of said removal shall be placed on the tax roll as a special charge against said private property."

I asked Ms Lang that in view of the fact that Dumped Items were remaining on the parkways for more than 3 days, if her Department (Planning and Devlopment) contacts the property owner to warn that the items need to be removed from the parkway or they would be issued a citation, she said that no, they did not, as Shorewood was not a "police state"

(A brief pause here for all the Shorewood residents who have received citations from the Planning and Devlopement Dept for Code Violations and every Shorewood resident who has received one of the thousands of parking tickets written every year to have a hearty laugh over the Police State comment :-)   )

So after much time and effort, I have found the Catch 22 of Shorewood Trash Dumping.  Because of the 3 day rule, the trash may sit there for 3 days, or a week, or whenever someone tells the DPW it is there, and they have the time and manpower to pick it up on a Thursday.

The Planning and Devlopment Department does not enforce the rules of leaving items on the parkway, as they believe it is a DPW problem.

I have not followed up with the Chris Swartz, the Village Manager or any of the Shorewood Village Board Members.  Maybe some of the readers of this posting will want to do that.

I do know that in Milwaukee where many of my friends live, the City of Milwaukee will not tolerate trash in the parkway.  It will be hauled away, and citations will be issued.  Maybe Milwaukee values nice looking properties more than Shorewood does.

Oh -- and yes, there is furniture dumped across the street in the 4400 block of Woodburn again --- for the past few days --- picture attached!