Ben, the two of us need look no more...

Having now lived in the Town of Cheektowaga for 2 years, I have come to realize why many people levy such negative comments.

The town continues to drag it's feet when it comes to the rat problem. Many surrounding towns and villages have acted on the problem and implemented garbage totes. The Town of Cheektowaga says that the cost of garbage totes, as well as equipping the garbage trucks to handle them, is too high. So instead... the town decided to introduce the Sanitation Patrol. Individuals paid to drive around the look for violations in the towns increasingly complicated sanitation laws.

It seams that there are enough residents not complying with the garbage rules to continue to foster the rat infestation. The City of Buffalo realized that the only way to solve the problem was to provide the solution.

And what about this Sanitation Patrol? It won't work unless the rules are enforced.

I witnessed the Garbage Cops driving in my neighborhood yesterday. I also witnessed them drive past two residences that had their garbage at the curb at 2:30 in the afternoon. That's 3 and 1/2 hours early... according to the rules. To top that... the garbage that was at the curb was in plastic bags sitting on the ground. That too is a violation of the "rules of the road".
So what have we learned? If you don't enforce it... consistently and frequently... it won't work!

As I said earlier, I have lived here for 2 years now. Not once have I ever received in the mail a letter detailing the sanitation rules. I am aware of them only because I bothered to look then up on the website.

So it is time for the Town of Cheektowaga to join the rest of Western New York and invest in garbage totes.

they don't eat, don't sleep
they don't feed, they don't seethe
bare their gums when they moan and squeak
lick the dirt off a larger one's feet...

Note - I'll try and limit angry rants to one a week and focus on the positives more often.