Curbside in Greenville, IL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those present to see history being made!!







Curbside passed tonight at the City Council meeting in a vote 4-1 in favor of adopting Dave Doty's revised contract to the City.

Dave Willey and Dave Doty were able to work out the details that were changed after last month's City Council meeting.

The bins will be delivered in the next month or so and no later than 120 days from the contract being accepted. Payment for curbside will not begin until the bins are delivered and the service is being provided.



The City will continue to work out details on how to subsidize the additional cost for curb-side for those citizens that may have trouble with this expense. Dave Willey commented that 6 people have approached him, willing to pay additional money for someone else's bill that may not be able to pay. If you are of the same mind, don't hesitate to send in additional funds and mark that it is to go into a fund for this purpose. I know we plan to do this as well!

The Mayor expressed that he had wished there could have been a step before this mandatory one, in which folks could have opted in or out. He feels that there are enough people that this fee will be a burden for, that he had to keep his vote of NO.

I believe that between people giving personally a dollar extra or so on their bills for someone else (or even a larger one time donation), the Bond County Board being amenable to giving some of the tipping fee to Greenville for this aide, and any money that Doty makes from QRS - 10% will come back to the City to help folks out, that there will be enough for all in need.

Recently Carlyle has adopted a curbside recycling program, and I just heard yesterday on the radio that the city of Breese is also trying to get grant money to start a recycling program. It is all around us. People are waking up to the fact that things have to change if we want to continue living on this planet. We have to start taking better care of our trash and we have to start changing how we live. We no longer have the option of being such a throw away society and need to begin thinking about how to live in a more sustainable way. Aren't you glad that Greenville is now one of many towns and communities that are making a move forward to this end?

I'm very proud of my City right now. I know that this was and is a stretch for some people and that the Council has had a long haul with this issue. However, I believe that they will find it benefiting the City in the future as they try to attract more businesses to move here. It will also be a plus for people looking for a place to settle. This issue is not going away anytime soon, and the Council's decision to be proactive was a wise one that will have benefits for us all long term.

Thank you to all who made this possible. You know who you are - my recycling buddies and greenie friends. Thanks for not giving up, for plugging away even when it was very bleak.

Thanks to Dave Willey, City Manager, who worked very hard to make this happen. Thanks to all the Council members who voted this in and fought for this issue to stay on the table: Matt Roadman, Roger Sanders, Will Boyd, Kenny Hampton.

Although I don't see eye to eye with the mayor, I have to thank him for allowing as a whole, people in the community to speak at the meetings no matter what side of the issue they were on. There were some negative letters to the editor recently where folks felt that they had no say in the matter. I would strongly disagree with this. There were at least three meetings where a great amount of time was devoted to this issue by the Council. These meetings were well advertised, and any citizen wanting to say anything could have come and spoken out. I would say that if people felt they had no say, it is on them for not getting out and participating in the very long debate that has been going on.

Our City Council members, our Mayor, and our City Manager have been very fair about this whole issue and have spent a lot of time and energy working on how it would work and who would do what and who would pay what, etc., etc. To suggest that any of them were doing anything less than honorable in their actions would be an untruth.

I know what you are thinking. "Now that Curbside has passed, she can defend these folks." There is some truth there :') I won't lie. If it hadn't passed I probably wouldn't be feeling as many warm fuzzies right now for these people. However, I would like to believe that I would still be able to see that they do work for us, the citizens, and they do take their positions seriously. I think we can be proud of our city employees.

So, on this Tuesday, November 10, 2009, I celebrate that this city that I live in has chosen to do the right thing. We will proceed forward, I'm sure with many stops and starts, but we WILL be moving forward. I celebrate that there is hope for us. That if a small community in Southern Illinois can decide to change (which I know is so hard for some) that more people can also change and that we as a people, a race, can make a difference. I celebrate that a few stay-at-home moms decided to stand up and get a better way of recycling. A few people's small actions and steps led to bigger and bigger steps, until now- we are striding forward in one massive, new step.

I remember being told last year that curbside was out of the question. It was too big and would not be attainable for another 10 years. I was discouraged from dreaming so big. I never gave up on that dream and I'm so proud to say that, tonight, we have curbside recycling. I have to join in with my "Dirty Roots" friends to just reiterate that yes, one person can make a difference! Better yet, two people, and three can begin a movement!! If you remember nothing else, please remember this. I know I will. It's a lie that our actions don't matter, they do!! Our actions change us, they change others, they change our world!!!!







Curbside Jump--I tried this once before when the new Doty bin arrived down by the tracks. We never got a shot of me off the ground.
We finally got off the ground in this photo. It's a fitting end to a long couple of years, where the City finally got off the ground too!

Thanks to my family for putting up with me. It has not been easy, but they were always supportive, understanding, ready to celebrate, fight, and cry with me. Way to go! This is your victory too!