A trashy Santa Fe can’t be the new norm

The reality of a city dealing with severe shortfalls in revenue and resulting cuts in the budget means that services will be affected. There’s no denying that.

However, photos circulating on social media of overflowing trash bins on the Santa Fe Plaza after a long Memorial Day weekend are indications city officials haven’t fully planned for the new reality they face. While surveys are being taken online designed to figure out what matters most to residents, we encourage top officials from the mayor on down to make sure department heads are deploying workers for maximum impact.

It doesn’t take a survey to tell us trash must be picked up.

Trash wasn’t a problem just at the Plaza, either. Walkers along the river trail reported seeing overflowing trash cans. Midtown parks had full cans — perhaps not as messy as the Plaza but definitely in need of dumping.

Especially on long weekends, the city cannot leave facilities unattended. Forget the lousy impression for tourists, who are beginning to trickle back. It’s bad for residents — a sign their tax dollars are not being utilized well. Most of all, trash is a health hazard, the last thing the city needs during a pandemic.

Online posts — including those of Germaine Gomez-Carrillo — shared photos of the mess on the Plaza. That prompted action by Beverly and Daniel Perez, and their friends and family, who saw the photos and went to the Plaza and bagged the trash, cleaning the place. They deserve a big thanks.

Through their actions may come part of a solution: finding volunteers to adopt nearby parks. Nevertheless, we want to see the city using its workers all seven days — even with furloughs — to perform basic services.

The trash-pickup problem is hardly new. Anyone who has visited parks over the past few years saw overflowing trash cans by the end of the weekend. That changed for a time, with workers coming early in the mornings to empty cans, even on weekends.

And though we understand workers are on the clock fewer hours, a solution must be found, particularly on weekends. Consider that with restaurants mostly closed to dine-in options, many families are getting takeout and eating at parks. There may be more, not less, trash than usual. Adjust accordingly.

Here are a few ideas: Obviously, schedule workers over seven days. The parks can’t just be maintained Monday-Friday. If that doesn’t work, for some reason, use non-union management to trade out shifts and get the trash cans emptied.

Add employees from the tourism division to help out downtown. City janitors, too, could be tasked with taking care of trash cans during the week to enable other workers to be available on weekends without breaking the budget. Bring in help from other departments, too. Could parks be part of a regular trash pickup schedule? This needs to be a citywide effort.

Part of the problem is the Parks and Recreation Department likely doesn’t have enough workers to handle the task, considering the number of parks and trails that need looking after. This looks to be a scheduling problem on top of a staffing problem.

If there are not enough workers, across the city, to make sure trash cans are emptied efficiently, then consider entering into a contract service one or two days a week. Granted, it’s not an easy choice in a time of a huge deficit, but in some instances, contracts can be paid from outside the operating budget. That might make it easier to find the money.

When all is said and done, less money coming in means less work being done. That is the new reality. However, before we give up and let the city become trashy, unhealthy and generally unkempt, schedule workers better and ask for help. This is not acceptable. Even if we’re broke.