While I appreciate Oak Park’s decision to stop allowing leaf piles in the streets, it doesn’t go far enough. To that end, I suggest we eliminate all trash pickup in Oak Park. There are many benefits to this change:
1. Safety is a concern. Trash collection can be dangerous! What if a child was hiding in a bin and they got tossed into a trash truck. Tragic. Or if someone throws a lit cigarette into the trash, it could easily start a fire.
2. The cost of running large trash trucks is significant. By moving away from traditional trash collection, we could redirect these funds to more essential services, benefiting the entire community.
3. Eliminating traditional trash pickup would benefit the environment and lower our carbon footprint. Now Oak Parkers can compost even more and have direct control over recyclables. The important thing is that this would represent more options, which is really what people want.
Will removing a beloved service like trash pickup cause some friction? Sure, but that’s the price of progress. I trust Oak Park leadership to pursue what’s right, even if it’s deeply unpopular. Frankly, it’s not about pleasing people, it’s about making progress, regardless of how unimportant and unwelcome that progress is.
Mike McLaughlin
Oak Park