Somerville Department of Public Works

Who says gubmint offices can’t be efficient?
Wanted to be more of a hippie, so I googled «composting Somerville» only to find subsidized Earth Machine compost bins available from the Public Works.
Drove up 20 minutes to closing time, walked through ghostly silent halls and stairwells until I found the living on the second floor. I said, «I’m here for the compost bins.» She said, «Check to the City of Somerville for $ 40.» I wrote it, she Xeroxed the bad boy, handed me the copy and sent me behind the building for a pickup.
A sweet as honey women in a miniature shack asked me to swing by bay 15 and help her with the garage door. I did, and she rewarded me with a brand new Earth Machine and a recycling crate to replace my split open dealy (thanks rough hands and New England winters!).
Total time: 14 minutes.
Genuinely surprised to find it line-​free, especially on what felt like the first real day of Spring. Oh, and if you’re interested in a brokedown CRT television, they have a pile of about 100 behind the main building. Use them for an «art project,» amiright Sarah D?

The Somerville Department of Public Works appears to not care that Christmas trees have been sitting on the side of our road for a month. Why this is the case I do not know. What I do know is that even though these trees were put out on time, they are now taking up valuable space on the ever growing mounds on snow. It’s someone’s job to collect the trees and SDPW needs to make sure that someone is doing it.

I had my first dealings with the DPW last week when I finally convinced GF to let me compost. (I had to convince her that it wouldn’t smell and that even if it did it could be far enough away from the house not to effect her daily life). The DPW, you see, has compost bins that would generally retail around the $ 100 mark for $ 25. A steal!
So I trundled on over to the DPW. The building was pretty easy to find. There’s DPW-​only street parking right outside. The building smelled like the 1970s… or perhaps like it hadn’t had a window open since then… or maybe like the inside of an old school bus?
Regardless, I went on up, showed my license, paid my $ 25, and was given back a xerox of the check with a stamp on it. I drove around back and was given a compost bin. I was on my way home 10 minutes later. Not bad for an interaction with a government body!