Trash pickup and cleanliness is one of the basic services that the New Orleans City Services Coalition says the new mayor and council will need to address when they take office in January, and according to the coalition's leader, the current council has already made strides in that department.
City Services Coalition project director Pres Kabacoff says since the city switched from a low-bid process to requests for proposals to pick its sanitation provider, residents' satisfaction with the city's garbage collection has grown.
"Complaints have been reduced form almost 1,500 in half," Kabacoff said. "Of those complaints, let's say 750 complaints, 85 percent are not valid because they didn't put out the trash or they complained before the trash truck got there, and the cameras show that."
However, Kabacoff says the new mayor and the new council have a long road ahead to nip illegal dumping in the bud.
"We've got 3,000 dump sites, lots of tires (and) lots of issues," Kabacoff said. "We've got 18 folks that can drive there in the trucks to get it picked up, and that's about half of what they need."
Kabacoff says cleaning up the dump sites quickly will put a dent in the city's coffers.
"It takes five to six months to address a dump site, and the goal is to get it done in a month," Kabacoff said. "That, frankly, will just cost more money. You'll need more drivers and more laborers."
Kabacoff says the new mayor and city council need to focus on enforcing the city's anti-dumping laws as well as consider stiffening penalties on people caught dumping.
"In St. Tammany Parish, you get a two-year jail sentence," Kabacoff said. "That will certainly send a message."