Now they let the public weigh in on the refuse issue

About 40 residents turned out Thursday evening for the second of five public hearings to discuss the future of Gwinnett County’s solid waste plan. The meeting, held at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville, was overseen by the special committee appointed to draft recommendations for a trash-hauling ordinance.

During a 45-minute open forum, the panel discussed whether any portion of the meetings should be closed. read more

Are garbage bins still sitting in front of your house?

They are sitting in front of mine. Allied claimed they would be picking up garbage bins 2 weeks ago... they are still sitting in front of the houses of 90% of the houses in my neighborhood. I am getting mad.

I called the other day and they seemed to be unaware that they had not picked them up yet.

So here's something else I just found out... Allied is Roberson Sanitation in disguise. Here is an article about a court hearing today over the garbage fiasco.

So who is picking up the garbage?

I am still waiting to find out myself. Here is what I know so far.

If you have Advanced Disposal bins sitting in your garage like I do, you will be getting a letter letting you know when the put them back on the curb for pick up. If you want to use their services, you can can in a payment and make arrangements to keep them.

As far as your old service, I will assume that your old service will assume you are continuing with them and will pick up your garbage unless you tell them otherwise. I have neglected to call mine to date and will not know until Friday when I call.

read: # Gwinnett hauler taken out with trash

Gwinnett Garbage Haulers to Stay in Place For Now

Who's picking up the trash?

Uh oh!

I have my existing garbage carrier whose service was supposed to end in a couple of weeks.

I also have new garbage bins in my garage scheduled to start on Jan 2.

Now the new garbage plan is halted and I need to figure out what to do with it all.

A Superior Court judge Thursday blocked implementation of Gwinnett County’s new trash disposal program — leaving some 180,000 households in the unincorporated areas of the county wondering who will pick up their garbage in January.

Judge Michael C. Clark ruled the county plan, which was to begin Jan. 2, violated state law by delegating governmental functions to a private entity, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful Services. The nonprofit corporation had been tapped by the county to administer a new waste program that expanded and mandated recycling and that consolidated service by contracting with two haulers.

Gwinnett Garbage Plan Stinks

More than two dozen citizens presented Gwinnett County commissioners with their distaste for the county’s new solid waste disposal program Tuesday night. But it was the board’s response that took the issue into a new direction...Most of the comments Tuesday night centered on residents saying they were deprived of the opportunity to choose their own hauler. Others said the county had run some of the smaller garbage haulers out of business by establishing a six-year contract with the two successful bidders for the job. Still others complained their rates would increase under the new plan. read more

Quality of Life in Lawrenceville GA

21.7 GRASS, WEEDS AND UNCULTIVATED VEGETATION
Premises and exterior property shall be maintained free from grass, weeds or uncultivated vegetation in excess of twelve (12) inches in height.

(We can let our grass get 12 inches high?)

21.8B PARKED VEHICLES
All vehicles in the front or side yard must be parked on a concrete or asphalt surface. Parking in the rear may be on gravel but not grass or dirt.

21.19 PRIVACY
Dwellings units, hotel units, rooming units and dormitory units shall be arranged to provide privacy and be separate from other adjoining spaces.

21.22.1 Area for Sleeping Purposes
Every bedroom occupied by one occupant shall contain at least seventy (70) square feet of floor area, and every bedroom occupied by more than one occupant shall contain at least fifty (50) square feet of floor area for each occupant thereof.
(my family of 9 kids would have been run out of the neighborhood).

Don't get me wrong, I think the quality of life ordinances are good... just ironic.

Water Wars and the State Line

Apparently our fair state is trying to push the Tennessee line over a bit to gain access to more water.



Even my kids find this distasteful. Doesn't anyone else feel this way?

Asian Store Taking Over Vacant Macy's

When Rich's Department store closed some years ago, Macy's took over its spot leaving the Macy's building empty. In 2009, when Korean Retailer Mega Mart opens its Ethnic business, it will have been empty for 5 years.

First, the title of the article disturbed me. "Vacant Macy's at mall will become Asian store". I found it completely insensitive...then I began reading.

The article was brief, cursory, and held no opinion or emotion at all. Yet in its lack of sentiment, I found a certain distaste for the idea. (It could be me, but this is the sensing I got). Curious as to what Gwinnett Residents thought, I glanced at the comments. I should not have gone there. All I saw was racist rants about how immigrants are ruining our country and state. "Welcome to the Third World", one comment said. "Gwinnett is turning into Asiatown" said another comment. "The only people excited about this are foreigners", says another.

Me, while I see some validity in the complaints of Norcross resembling a foreign land where few street signs and store signs are in English, I am overall, appalled by the blatant ignorance being portrayed.

In my opinion, if you don't like Asians opening up so many stores in a concentrated area, then get together with your buddies and open up a few stores yourself. But don't cry and moan that the Asians are doing business when you are not.

Let's take the Asian Farmers Market near Gwinnett Mall for Example. I used to shop at Harry's Farmers Market before it tucked tail and left for a bigger and better suburb. Now all that is left is the Asian Market. Where are the people that could have shopped at Harry's and kept if from going defunct? Where are the people who can take over the Harry's building and give them some competition? I would shop there. Not because the owners of the other farmers market are Asian, however, but because they sell rotten fruit. We need another whole foods type store, but instead of opening one, people are complaining that the Asians own one.

As I read through the comments of most of the people on this article (there were those who called out the racism and bigotry, but were shot down), I can't help but think back to a time when the term "blacks" could have easily replaced the word "Asians" in many of the remarks.

But that's just my opinion.

Are wells the answer for Lawrenceville?

In an effort to be less of a drain on Atlanta's water supply, Lawrenceville leaders have decided to reactivate the city's dormant wells, though some have radiation contamination. A Colorado based company is being considered for cleaning the water supply which will take us off the Lake Lanier and Gwinnett County water systems. read more

Lawrenceville Needs Open Heart Surgery

"Gwinnett County is the most populated county in the nation without open heart surgery Gwinnett's 750,000+ residents account for nearly 10% of Georgia's population Gwinnett is second in population in Georgia only to Fulton county; but Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb all have open heart surgery These facts and others, the resolution says, make the lack of an open heart surgery program "a very significant health issue for the citizens of Gwinnett County today." read full story here

Feeding the Hungry

It's not a secret that many of our areas residents are in a tight spot this year, especially this time of year. Therefore I am listing places you can give and receive food.

Donate food and money at:

~Any Kroger store
~Contact local churches to see if they are collecting food
~*North Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries 70 Wiley Drive, Buford. 770-271-9793, www.northgwinnettcoop.org.
~*Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry 1200 Athens Highway, Grayson; 770-885-5229.
~*Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry 176 Church St., Lawrenceville; 770-339-7887;www.lawrencevilleco-op.org.
~*Norcross Cooperative Ministry Contact information: 2275 Mitchell Road, Norcross. 770-263-0013, www.norcrossco-op.org
~Gwinnett Senior Services 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville. 770-822-8837, www.gwinnettcounty.com.

* you should also be able to get food at any place that is starred (*). The other places will distribute food to these places.

Isn't it Ironic?

Isn't it ironic that during a time when there isn't a drop of water to spare that a local family gets literally washed from their home?

A Gwinnett County family is homeless after a torrent of water gushing from a broken water main collapsed the basement wall of their house early Wednesday. read more

Gwinnett County 2008 Budget Proposal is in

The proposed operating budget of our county is $860 million, is up 5.5 percent from last year, and is asking for less new positions than was requested last year.

Hiring is proposed for Fire and Emergency services, the Gwinnett Police, and the Emergency 911 call center. More water resources personell and a new 10th Circuit Superior judge is is also on the list of proposed hires for 2008.

Read more about the proposal at The Weekly newspaper online.

Local Parks under construction have little drought impact

Many of the parks in and around Gwinnett are in the midst of major construction. Amazingly this construction has little to no effect on the drought due to clever irrigation, or lack of it alltogether. In Lawrenceville a nature trail is being built to the tune of $750,000. They are using native flowers that can exist solely on rainwater. (this unnamed trail is still in the design phase). Other park projects are found here.

Are you conserving water?

Yesterday, local ACJ blogger/ columnist Rick Badie wrote about the water restrictions in his article, "What a bunch of Poop" that talks about a family that have always reserved water being restricted from cleaning bird droppings off their porch. In the end, he mentions the problem coming down to there suddenly being a state of emergency when we (the legislators, and zoning people) didn't see this problem coming.

So the couple was told to salvage shower water to clean the porch. It's actually a good idea. As a matter of fact, I am going upstairs to take a shower right now and am bringing my shallow dish pan into the shower with me so I can water the plants on my porch that yesterday's rain could not reach.

Meanwhile, what are you doing to cut back on water use? Do you think this is a good idea?