Letters to the Editor of The Ithaca Journal, the week of January 19th, 2000:

On three early mornings in October I saw the city trash crews throw out recyclables on the Commons. As reported in the Journal, I showed a videotape of this to Mayor Cohen and superintendent of public works Mr. William Gray. The tape clearly shows the trash collectors picking up my recycling (in a recycling tub) and emptying the large metal municipal recycling cans on the Commons. Mayor Cohen said they would get to the bottom of the matter. The Journal ran a follow-up article the week after Christmas when I was out of town. Mr. Richard Ferrel, assistant city superintendent for streets and facilities, stated I was at fault for leaving out my recycling on a non-recycling week. I find this explanation lacking for a number of reasons, leaving alone that the city has not addressed the fact that the videotape I gave the city showed the trash collector emptying the Commons' recycling cans in addition to my own recycling. As I stated to Mayor Cohen and Mr. Gray in October, my recycling was trashed two weeks in a row. Also, my building does have weekly recycling pickup by the county, contrary to Mr. Ferrel's statement in the paper that it does not. The city's explanation for their mistake is to publicly blame the person who discovered it. I think the city owes me an apology. Sincerely, Daniel Allen