South Tulsa residents plagued by mulch, bad puns.

[sgrizzle]

quote:
Too mulch to bear

by: P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
2/27/2008  12:00 AM

Crews begin around-the-clock debris pile removal


Potential health issues that could arise from the smelly mountains of mulch at Johnson Park have the city expediting a removal plan, the City Council was told Tuesday.

The city has been contacted by health and environmental officials about the possible impact on air quality, "and we want to eliminate any potential of that," said Dan Crossland, the Public Works Department's deputy director of public facilities.

Crossland said contract crews dealing with the storm debris Wednesday will begin working around the clock for three weeks to grind the debris and remove the mulch from the park, located at 61st Street and Riverside Drive.

"I think it is just best if we get the debris out of there as fast as possible, clean the park up, put it back like it was, and make this all go away," he said.

The ice storm that hit the area in December left the city covered with nearly 3 million cubic yards of debris.

Johnson Park has been one of the designated sites for collection contractors to dump debris for grinding.

"There certainly is an odor problem, and the longer it (the mulch) stays there, the worse it is going to get," Crossland said.

"We're also starting to get some airborne issues we need to deal with," he said about dust and wood fibers created at the site.

The Department of Environmental Quality was contacted by a resident near the site who complained about the dust, said Skylar McElhaney, DEQ spokeswoman.

"We told Tulsa that our main concern is the overall air quality," she said.

The Tulsa City-County Health Department also was contacted by a few neighborhood residents.

Because a disaster was declared after the ice storm, certain air-quality regulations such as "fugitive dust" control can be modified or waived, said John Baker, Health Department manager of environmental health services.

The assembly line process of unloading, stacking, grinding and reloading at the site creates dust, Baker said.

"You can stand there and watch the process and see all of the dust," he said. "These windy days like today don't help."

If there hadn't been a disaster declaration, the city would not be allowed to operate as it is, Baker said.

Paul Strizek, the Public Works Department's planning contract manager, said the contract crews working at the site are not affected by the dust and are not wearing any protective breathing masks.

Although the city has not been directed to remove the piles immediately, Crossland said the city wants to be proactive in addressing a nuisance for the nearby neighborhood.

The contractor has agreed to the new schedule and is bringing in another grinder and more hauling trucks at no additional cost, Crossland said.

Workers will first clear the debris closest to the homes on the north side of the park, he said.

Crossland said the grinders will be located at the southwest corner of the park, as far away from the houses as pos sible, to mitigate noise at night.

If the noise from the grinders becomes an issue, he said, the city will have to readdress the process.

Crossland said the piles might not have grown as large had the city not been delayed for three weeks as it awaited DEQ approval to remove the mulch.

Instead, the piles got larger, and the natural decomposition process began, creating the smell, he said.

Crossland said that each time equipment moves mulch into trucks, the smell gets worse -- especially when the pile gets wet.

Crossland said about 50,000 cubic yards have been removed since the city began hauling the mulch away from the park nearly a week ago.

The mulch is going to Sand Springs, where it is being mixed with soil and will be used for land reclamation, he said.

The contractors also will haul mulch to another site where it will be used as a cap on a landfill, he said.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080227_238_A1_hCrew63781


I didn't know RM was a headline writer for the world..


I find it funny that "because neighbor complaints, workers will now be going 24 hours a day." That says to me "if you thought the dust was bad, checkout the alternative..."

[RecycleMichael]

Thank you, thank you very mulch.

[grahambino]

I miss ya mulch (boy-oh-I miss you mulch)
I really miss you mulch (M-I-S-S you mulch)
I miss ya mulch (boy-oh-I miss you mulch)
Baby I really miss you mulch (M-I-S-S you mulch)

[Friendly Bear]

quote:Originally posted by grahambino

I miss ya mulch (boy-oh-I miss you mulch)
I really miss you mulch (M-I-S-S you mulch)
I miss ya mulch (boy-oh-I miss you mulch)
Baby I really miss you mulch (M-I-S-S you mulch)

The answer to the growing mulch pile:

A couple of road flares.......?

Burn, baby, BURN!

[patric]

The mulch was supposed to be sold and mixed with topsoil, but that apparently didnt happen, as the pile at 207th West Avenue in Sand Springs keeps catching fire every time it gets hot.