Dear Menlo Park City Council,  

Issue 1 - Friday hours:  

How does having the City offices closed every other Friday properly serve its citizens? I worked at a place were the people worked every other Friday and it was discontinued because there was a loss in productivity and they found it didn't actually keep cars off the road, people just drove other places. Also, our offices were never shut down because of the Fridays off, but different people had different Fridays off. Also, you did not get to take your Friday off if you were needed at work. I find it very incontinent that the offices are closed on some Fridays.  

Can the City be opened every Friday?    

Issue 2 - Trash collection:  

We are in a high tech town, with the lowest tech trash system. 15 years ago in Laguna Niguel and over 10 years ago in Walnut Creek the trash became automated. The system works with 2 trash cans. One trash can is for non recyclables and the other is split in two with one side paper and the other side cans and bottles. The trash truck has an arm which picks up the trash and for the recyclables opens in the middle and properly dumps it in each side. This is much neater and easier than one can and 4 crates (which are usually overflowing after 2 weeks). The trash cans have wheels making it easier to get the trash to the curb. The crates can be very heavy and difficult to get to the curb. And, are they actually able to recycle wet, dirty, and full of leaves paper? I've heard that sometimes recyclables are not actually recycled and I wonder if that is our case because the paper gets so contaminated sitting outside exposed for 2 weeks. Also, it is difficult for people to come by and steal the cans and bottles out of the cans, this is the most valuable part of the recyclables and maybe we could reduce our trash collection cost if the valuable recyclables could be kept by the trash company. Most other cities also collect recyclables every week.  

Can we have an automated trash system? Can the recyclable be picked up every week?  

Thank you,  

Karen Greenlow     Received on Fri Apr 25 11:08:18 2008