Incompetence Deepens Piedmont’s Garbage Crisis

We’re now days into this garbage crisis. Garbage bins line our streets like monuments to municipal failure. The City’s solution? “Leave them out.” That’s it. No timeline. No backup plan. Just rotting waste baking in the July sun—attracting pests, creating health hazards, and degrading our community.

Where is the leadership? Specifically, where is our City Administrator? This isn’t a minor hiccup; it’s a public health and operational collapse. In a city with Piedmont’s resources and tax base, the absence of any contingency plan is inexcusable. Private contractors fail—that’s why competent governments have redundancies. Where are the emergency collection crews? The coordinated drop-off sites? The communication?

The silence suggests either staggering incompetence or a deliberate effort to obscure the truth. Meanwhile, the stench of decay is literal and metaphorical.

And let’s address the inequity question quietly circulating: Are all neighborhoods suffering equally? Or is this crisis hitting some streets harder than others? Transparency isn’t optional here—it’s essential to maintaining trust.

We pay premium taxes for premium services. What we’re getting is dereliction of duty. The City Administrator needs to emerge, take accountability, and deploy immediate palliative measures. Then, we demand a full audit of the Republic Services contract and the City’s emergency protocols.

Piedmonters deserves better than overflowing bins and underperforming leaders.