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Trolleys On Hold, Trash Piling Up

A bulky item waits by the curb for collection. In south Kansas City recently it has taken 3 weeks to schedule a pickup.
A bulky item waits by the curb for collection. In south Kansas City recently it has taken 3 weeks to schedule a pickup.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-849445.mp3

Kansas City, MO – Kansas City Missouri's new bulky-item pickup by appointment only program and a $400,000 loan to provide event and entertainment transit on rubber-tired trolleys came before city council committees Wednesday, with disappointment on both issues.

Public works officials told a council committee that it is taking as long as three months for some southland residents to get appointments to have bulky items picked up, but they hope to get everything back to the planned two-month schedule.

Committee members including chair Cathy Jolly said that's too long to wait.

"It's unacceptable," said Jolly. "We shouldn't have to tell our neighbors that when they do a good job and they're cleaning up and they want to make a difference in their block that they're going to have to wait two months and it's going to have to be there."

Public works director Stan Harris said reducing the wait to one month would require more funding for the program, and with budget conditions tight, nobody rushed to volunteer that.

A $400,000 loan to start a trolley service was put on indefinite hold by another council committee after the business group that was going to operate them asked to be allowed to stop payments after 30 months if the service had to be ended because it was losing money.

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