Long Beach Clarifies Debris Removal Information

There was some confusion in the city of Long Beach Tuesday after a new debris deadline hit the news.

A debris contractor sent a news release to local media encouraging Long Beach residents to move debris to their curbs. But not everyone is eligible. Now city leaders want it straightened out.

When Long Beach city clerk Rebecca Schruff got to work Tuesday morning she was surprised by some of the phone calls she received.

"Some of the calls I have gotten today have been from people north of the track wanting to know about debris removal, and this is not going to cover that area at all," says Schruff.
The calls followed stories by WLOX and The Sun Herald newspaper telling everyone in Long Beach when and where to dump their storm debris for pick-up. Long Beach Mayor Billy Skellie says the contractor didn't have the information quite right.

"I think the contractor made it seem like it was everywhere, and it's not everywhere. It's those designated areas that were affected by storm surge and only those areas," says Mayor Skellie.
The mayor wants to clear up the confusion because he doesn't want trash scattered along the streets of Long Beach.

"The pickup area will be included in the area that saw the surge north of the tracks and near the canals. Canal 2, 3 and Canal 1, if it was affected by the storm surge. I think people will know exactly where that is," says Skellie.

Since there are different contractors for each job, city leaders in Long Beach want people to separate debris into three piles: One for concrete blocks, another for trees and a third pile for all other debris.

"It will be nowhere near the job it was before. It won't be as much, but this is the kind of thing where we do another little fine tune-up to try and cleanup," says Skellie.
Mayor Skellie says the deadline for people to get their trash to the curb is January 15. That will give contractors enough time to get everything picked up by their deadline of February 28, 2007.

Residents who still have questions about the debris pickup may call the Long Beach City Hall at (228) 863-1556.

by Elise Roberts