Opinion: Norwalk Deserves Better: Paying more & getting less. That Doesn’t Work for US!

Like so many of you, I’m frustrated by the city’s new trash and recycling ordinance. 

Under this new plan, some residents who’ve always had city trash pickup will now lose it. If you live in a multi-family home with more than four units, run a small business, or live in a mixed-use building, you’ll now have to figure it out on your own, even though you’ve been paying into the system just like everyone else. Not to mention, those who are eligible for a new trash can will only receive one receptacle per household. And according to inquiries to the city’s customer service, the choice for a paid additional receptacle won’t be immediately available. This doesn’t seem viable in the hot summer months. The decision to test out how one trash can works for a family of 4+ with summer parties and kids home more during the summer months makes little sense. Where’s the logic? 

Norwalk families are already seeing higher taxes, and now the city wants to cut back services? Those trash cans you invested in? They’re now literally garbage, and you get to dispose of it yourself or keep it to collect overflow garbage, leaves, etc, which sounds like a breeding ground for pests and bugs. 

The city is calling this “streamlining,” but the truth is, it’s just shifting the burden onto hardworking people, like families, tenants, and small business owners. How much of an increase will tenants of small apartment complexes, already struggling, have to pay for their landlord to hire a dumpster company? And where will those dumpsters go? In small shared driveways? If the city doesn’t provide trash pickup for these smaller-scale apartment units, then we must hold the landlords accountable with enforcement. But will we? We don’t exactly have a positive track record in the city’s success with blight enforcement and absent landlords. What happens when trash starts piling up on our city streets? How many calls from neighbors and submissions into the click-and-request app will it take? And if it’s addressed, what is the added cost? We already have issues with blight being ignored and a lack of enforcement. This just makes it worse. 

Smart, cost-effective planning is important, but fairness and common sense have to come first. If you’re paying more, you should be getting more, not less. And changes should be for the better. Not worse. 

We need to fight for citywide services to as many as feasibly eligible. But we weren’t given the chance. This decision can truly impact your daily life within your neighborhoods. We need transparency, we need priorities that reflect our needs. The city can blame the company, but at the end of the day, our common council and mayor should advocate for improvements and clean streets and neighborhoods. 

It’s time for change, the kind that cleans things up the right way for residents and small business owners.

Vinny Scicchitano – Candidate for Mayor of Norwalk

Editor’s Note: This article is an opinion piece submitted by a member of the public. It reflects the author’s personal views and experiences and has not been independently fact-checked by NancyOnNorwalk.