When he contacted the city to request a trash can, Hritz was told the request had to go through his block captain.
But his block captain moved away shortly after Hritz moved in, and wasn't replaced. Hritz doesn't understand why a block captain would need to approve a trash can, anyway.
How trash cans work: There are several different types of city-issued trash cans in Philadelphia.
Center City has 500 of the new, Big Belly solar-powered trash cans. The Streets Department also deploys 700 cans along neighborhood commercial corridors, like Grays Ferry Avenue. The trash can on Hritz's block is from this program.
If his block got a second trash can, it would come from another Streets Department program, which let block captains "adopt a basket" by promising to take care of it.
Deputy Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams said the department has block captains manage neighborhood trash cans to prevent them from becoming a nuisance. The block captains make sure the trash cans don't become a magnet for "short dumping" (in this case, residents filling the cans with household garbage). And they're responsible for making sure they don't get overrun with trash.
No block captain, no neighborhood trash can. Where are all the block captains? Hritz's block isn't the only one that would have a hard time getting a trash can under these rules.
To become a block captain, you need to get a petition signed by at least 50 percent of the neighbors on your block. Williams said about a third of the city's 18,000 blocks have captains. He'd like to see half of Philadelphia's blocks organized that way, but that's going to take some time.
