Quick note on the rubbish article you ran. I imagine whatever neighborhood group or community planning group exists in the area could call their council district representative, strike a deal to get a trash can put out there if they agree to maintain it, and then get a collection of volunteers to take turns emptying it.
They could probably even get a local business who cares about the community to accept the trash in their dumpster as long as the residents would agree to transport it from point A to point B.
This isn’t a perfect solution to the problem, but it’s immediate, it’s reasonable, and it would help while the city recovers.
I suppose in an ideal world the city really would have the resources— human and financial — to address every traditionally municipal service. But I tend to think we can work with each other and come up with pretty good local solutions on our own (or with minimal government help).
Actually, you can let those residents know I’d be happy to help them try to find a solution to that problem. Our council office is and has been really responsive for years, especially when we can help with whatever solution we’re looking for. Residents can e-mail me at opassons@gmail.com.