Garbage Day
Dawn’s blog post inspired me to share a stinky tale of my own. A blissful suburban resident for most of my life, I recently turned in my commuter pass to brave the concrete jungle—or, rather, garbage jungle. For the past two weeks, I have had to navigate through an overgrowing pile of trash due to a union strike by my building’s doormen and the Department of Sanitation’s stance to not cross the picket line.
Sure, I had come across condo association and other community disputes in suburbia, but as a renter, I always kept my nose out of it. Upon moving into my new city digs, rather than “hello, Ms. Hallberg,” I was greeted with “will you sign this petition?” I did not. Frankly, I hadn’t lived in the building long enough, nor was I privy to the specific details of the labor negotiations, to take a side. I just want to live in an affordable, clean home where I feel comfortable and safe. I thought that’s what I signed up for, but it’s no longer the case.
Thanks to the rancid trash pile, my nose is in it this time. Instead of sitting back watching, waiting and gagging, I put my PR skills to use and teamed up with a neighbor and former colleague to alert our local Council Member, news stations, online and print outlets of the problem. Yesterday, which was several days after the news stories broke, the trash was removed.
However, the victory was bittersweet. I arrived home only to find several packages I’d been expecting were not delivered because UPS won’t cross the picket line. Now that I’ve found my voice in expressing my rights as a paying tenant, I don’t know how far to take it. My landlord isn’t perfect and I’m empathetic to the lives and rights of the staff, however the staff, in my opinion, has been subpar and I’m not sure I trust having all of them back after some of the tactics they’ve taken to make our lives uncomfortable in an effort to pressure my landlord to meet their demands. What would you do? Comments welcome. 