Dumpster diving

You never know what the hot topic will be when it comes to neighborhood issues. Here in Wornall Homestead, it's dumpsters. Under the City's recycling program, funds are provided which pay for most of the cost of putting out dumpsters for neighborhood cleanups. That includes both trash dumpsters and lawn waste dumpsters. The cost to the neighborhood is $50/dumpster which is a great deal. Our neighborhood brings them in twice a year. At least that is, until this year. Turns out the program is out of money for the year and my neighborhood didn't get its request turned in soon enough. Some neighbors are pretty upset because they plan their yardwork around having those dumpsters here every October. It got me to thinking about different ways to fund this program. I know there's only so much money in the City budget. How about private funding? Why couldn't we find a corporate sponsor for our neighborhood cleanup program? Dumpsters cost about $300. That's nothing as far as advertising costs go. Hang a banner on the side of a dumpster. "Clean Sweep with Swiffer" or something like that. We could have individual dumpster sponsorhips or one company could subsidize the entire program for a year in exchange for exclusive advertising space. I threw this idea out Saturday night at a fundraiser. Not one person in the room seemed to care if there was an advertisement on the side of a dumpster. As long as they get to rid themselves of leaves of brush, they were not opposed to seeing a little advertising. The brainstorming ensued and we talked about private sponsorship for a number of things. Concerns were raised, more ideas were generated. All in the span of about 15 minutes. Just some concerned citizens sitting around trying to make things better. If only government worked that way...