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Residents raise stink over sanitation issues
Several residents are unhappy with their neighbors' handling, or mishandling, of garbage in town, although Cheektowaga Town Board members and officials hope to reach a solution in the near future.
Rosewood Terrace resident Dominic Corigliano stated at Monday's town board meeting that a continuing problem in his neighborhood- a resident putting garbage out on Sunday nights for a Wednesday morning pickup, as well as another's deteriorated front steps creating an eyesore- had only gotten worse in recent weeks.
"Nothing's being done on the properties," said Corigliano, who presented the board with pictures of rats and other rodents at the location. "Every day the garbage sits there, it's bound to get blown open and there's bound to be issues. It's a clear violation of our current ordinance. It's not the first time there has been an issue here."
Corigliano offered his comments during a public hearing regarding proposed changes to the town's sanitation code.
The town ordinance states that residents should not place garbage at the curb earlier than 6 p.m. the night before its scheduled pickup. Proposed changes to the code include giving first-time ordinance violators an information notice from Town Supervising and Plumbing Inspector Thomas Adamczak. Secondtime offenders receive a warning, and thereafter violators are fined $25, $50 and $100.
Corigliano stated the town had shown preferential treatment in responding to certain ordinance-violating properties and not others, calling the alleged actions "a slap in the face to people in the neighborhood."
Town Attorney Mike Stachowski responded by saying the town board is working "diligently" to prosecute violators of the town ordinance.
"Building inspectors have the obligation and duty to determine (properties) are consistent with the codes of New York State and the town," Stachowski said. "I have a hard time believing we don't prosecute. We're getting more and more (violators) every month."
Stachowski added that Cheektowaga Town Justices James Vallone and Thomas Kolbert are handling code violations. He also stated Corigliano or any other complainants could "band together" and hire an attorney and sue a violator of a "nuisance law" if they believed the violator had "impacted the (complainants') way of living."
"We're doing all we can do," Stachowski stated. "We're drawing it into the courts."
Board Trustee Thomas Johnson acknowledged the trash problems.
"Our failure to enforce our own ordinance for the past few years has led to the use of a lot of bags throughout the town, particularly at apartment complexes," Johnson declared. "Use of bags only for hardened receptacles has generated more rodent complaints. We are late getting to (the problem) and reaching the level of enforcement and adoption of enforcement rules."
Town Supervisor Dennis H. Gabryszak stated the board would continue to explore various options to better handle the issue.
Town resident Jay Falcone said the board should talk with other local towns, including Amherst, on getting new, "unified" trash cans.
"If you can go to the manufacturers that makes the garbage cans and have your (sanitation) workers come up with ideas, it'll be safer," Falcone said.
Johnson, however, stated he doesn't think Cheektowaga should purchase receptacles, citing high purchasing costs.
In other action, Johnson and Trustee James Rogowski spoke in favor of keeping St. Joseph Hospital open in the wake of state-recommended closing threats.
"The (New York State) governor (George Pataki) is ignoring three main items regarding St. Joe's," said Johnson. "For one, it's profitable and has incurred no debt. Another, the Cheektowaga and Buffalo road service for residents to get to other hospitals is ignored. Lastly, the consideration that St. Joe's houses a large medical center with physicians' offices and ambulatory services is ignored."
Rogowski stated the hospital provides 555 full-time jobs and generated approximately $3.3 million last year, serving 29,000 individuals in 2004.
He added that he doesn't see the benefit of closing such a profitable hospital, while keeping open five institutions within close proximity of each other in the City of Buffalo.
"Erie County is bad enough, and now you're going to close a hospital that services the suburban area?" Rogowski exclaimed. "The commissioner (of a hospital-closing study) said Buffalo has too many hospitals. St. Joe's is not Buffalo. It doesn't make sense to close an institution that helps with the area's profitability."
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