When the garbage bins with ads weaved its way through various city agencies, the general consensus was that they were ugly. But somehow, the promise of getting someting for free once again trumped common sense, and the experiment began. From The Hour:
Last September, the Common Council authorized Mayor Richard A. Moccia to execute a 10-year agreement with Creative Outdoor Advertising, allowing the firm to place and maintain large trash bins featuring advertisements on city sidewalks in litter-ridden areas of Norwalk. The firm is also responsible for maintaining and emptying the bins.
Under the plan, Creative Outdoor Advertising initially would place 50 such containers on sidewalks and other public right-of-ways in commercial areas with litter problems, such as Wall Street and West Avenue.
The advertisements cost $99 per month on the fronts, $49 per month on the backsides, and $129 per month on both sides of the containers. The city is to receive 8 percent of the revenues from each container.So far, the city has yet to collect its share of $10 per unit per month. Although the bins began going in months ago, many initially carried logos rather than advertisements, and the city is paid quarterly, according to Alvord.
Alvord acknowledges that commercial trash bins on public streets rub some people wrong.
“When we first floated the idea for this, we got people who said, ‘These things are ugly. We don’t want advertising all over the city,’” Alvord said. But “I haven’t heard a peep.”
He added, however, “That’s not to say there’s people who don’t like them.”
Indeed, not all council members were enthused about large trash bins with commercial advertising popping up on city streets. Among those to vote ‘No’ was District D Councilwoman Kelly L. Straniti.
And what does Straniti think of the bins now that they are in place?
“They’re hideous. I’ve seen them all over. There on East Avenue and down in the Wall Street area. It doesn’t matter what the ad is, they’re just so big and ugly,” Straniti said. “I hear that, ‘Oh well, they’re really working, they’re doing to job and there’s less trash.’ But I just wish there was another way to resolve that.
“They’re four- or six-feet wide. If they didn’t have the ad, they might not be that bad, but with the ad and colors they just stand out,” Straniti said.
For Straniti, the only redeeming aspect of the agreement between the city and Creative Outdoor Advertising is that the council’s Public Works Committee, upon which she sits, has review authority for future bin locations.
Garbage is still littered throughout Norwalk. Part of the problem is that people are still piling up garbage in boxes and plastic bags at curbside awaiting trash pick up. Birds, animals and sometimes people, open and rummage through the trash allowing winds to scatter it beyond the curb. This practice should stop. What the city needs is a trash disposal ordinance that requires any trash to be be picked up be contained in a lidded trash barrel or bin. And empower the trash collectors to leave a fine for trash not in a container at pick up.
source: The Hour Advertising bins serving double duty, by , August 11, 2007
