THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406020179
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By CRYSTAL YEDNAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940603 LENGTH: Long
``Now imagine this street with trash cans, bags and junk all over,'' says Waste Management Inspector Ken Huff as he drives a city pickup truck through the Lake Christopher area. ``Without the codes, a nice neighborhood like this can be made to look like the devil hit it.''
{REST} You might think of Huff as Mr. Clean.
His job is to enforce the city's garbage code. From behind fluorescent-rimmed sunglasses, his eyes scan the sides of the road as he patrols the streets in his truck. The blue City of Virginia Beach badge stands out from his white uniform shirt. About 6 feet tall with a considerable girth, he is not a small presence, probably even a little intimidating.
But he'll flash you a smile, slip his hands into his pockets and launch into some small talk before busting you for violating the codes of Virginia Beach.
He's one of Virginia Beach's five waste management inspectors. Starting in July, there will be 11 more city workers out looking for trash containers that are out too early, too late or that are filled with materials the city can't take to the landfill.
The city's housing inspectors and five waste management inspectors are being combined into one department that will do both.
Virginia Beach is not the only city that employs garbage inspectors. Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Norfolk all have city employees who check residents' trash. Norfolk even has volunteer inspectors who travel the streets looking for violations.
A trash can out on the side of the road may not seem like a big deal, but Huff sees it as the beginning of a situation that could snowball into a dirty, trash-filled Virginia Beach. You let one person do something and pretty soon everyone will be leaving junk all over.
So he keeps control with the codes.
The man with the badge doesn't see himself as an enforcer; he sees himself as an educator. ``People are still naive to refuse collection,'' he said. ``Once they put it out they think it just goes away.''
Huff worked as an elementary teacher for two years before coming to Virginia Beach. Now instead of books, he uses small colored cards to instruct his students.
If he doesn't get to explain the violation to the resident in person, he wires one of these official notices to their trash can or front door. The important parts of the code are highlighted with a yellow marker and additional information is written on the flip side of the card. He adds politeness to the cards by inserting ``thank yous'' into his explanations.
He has to: People see his badge, and they start spouting off about what irks them about city government.
To these people, Huff says: ``I got big shoulders, lay it on me.''
Sugarcoating the situation doesn't always work. People get ugly, they threaten to call the city manager, they deny it.
``Often times no matter how you word it, it comes out accusatory,'' he said.
Like in the case of Kate Doudna. Doudna, a resident of Princess Anne Plaza, became outraged after her garbage was tagged for being out too early. She said she had her son bring their trash can out to the curb about 5:30 the night before her usual collection day.
An inspector attached a notice to her trash can saying that the can shouldn't be put out until the morning of collection.
``It was like getting a demerit in school,'' Doudna said. She said a single black trash can doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
But it is a big deal to the neighbors who complain and force Huff to become a referee. About 90 percent of the complaints the department gets are from the violators' neighbors, Huff said. ``Neighbors tend to get into little tiffs, and then they send the city agencies into it.''
A small tiff brings Huff to a resident's door in the Little Haven section of Virginia Beach. Someone complained about a wood pile lying in the street, blaming it on a neighbor. The neighbor pointed the finger back, saying that the wood, which the city cannot pick up, belongs to the accuser.
So Huff arrives on the scene. Someone has phoned in a work order to get the wood picked up by a special truck, but he still wants to be sure the residents understand the rules. The woman at the door nods her head as she listens to Huff's monologue on the code. She even smiles when he leaves. This complaint is handled in a few minutes. The woman doesn't deny that the wood is hers, and the pile will be gone in a few days. Some aren't resolved as easily.
Many times, there will be garbage bags lying in the streets, and no one will claim responsibility. That's when Huff gets tough. ``I'm not opposed to opening up the bags to look for something to identify them with,'' he said.
To some, this may not be appealing. But Huff said there's really nothing he doesn't like about his job. He loves meeting people - even under these circumstances.
And he can see the results of his work. Once again, he points to the clean streets.
``You see, if we weren't here, this place would not look as nice as it does now.''
by CNB