I will be the first to say that the City of Amarillo doesn't always get the thanks that they deserve. So I am going to be the first to shout, thank you. I had a problem I was facing at my house and I handled it the right way.

I contacted someone from the City of Amarillo to get it addressed. This has been an ongoing problem with my dumpster. It was going to hurt someone at some point. I don't know when or who it was going to get. I just knew it was someone.

My original email:

I wanted to write to you to see if I could get some help with the dumpster behind my house. I live at (edited to remove my address) in Bivins and the dumpster has seen better days. It has not hurt anyone yet....that I know of but I know that can happen any day now. The lid on the right side is hanging by a thread. Sometimes it gets stuck under the left dumpster lid making it a struggle to get out when it is caught. I have attached photos so you can see what I am talking about. I know that if we can get a new dumpster with those nice plastic lids it would so make my day. I would love to not have to fight with this dumpster anymore. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE.
Thank you for your time.
credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
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My one dumpster lid was hanging on by a thread. So when it got emptied it would sometimes be jammed under the other one. If not, it was somehow twisted up to make it difficult to deal with.

credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
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I didn't address it during the trash issues we had. You know when we had to go down to one trash empty per week? I figured they had other problems to deal with. So now that we are back to a regular schedule. Again, I can't address how much that has been a blessing as well.

credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
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I emailed the city. I didn't know who was in charge of our trash service department. I knew Jared Miller's name. He is our City Manager. So I knew his office could at least get the email to the correct person. Oh, and they handled everything.

I first got a response from Jared's assistant, Jon, letting me know he forwarded my email and photos to the correct department. Step one - check.

Then I was not expecting to get a response, after that from Jared, but I did.

Thank you for reaching out! I have copied Donny Hooper, our Director of Public Works, so that he can get this addressed. We will get on it immediately. I can’t tell you exactly when we will have it addressed, but that team is filled with rockstars, so I would not be surprised if we didn’t get it tomorrow.

I really appreciated that email as well. They are, in fact, rock stars because I got the news I was waiting for. I responded back to Jared letting him know that I appreciated them looking into it. I got a response not ten minutes later letting me know my good news.

Turns out, they accepted the challenge and got the dumpster changed out yesterday afternoon.

I am way more excited about a new dumpster than I should be. I recognize that. The dumpster in question sits right behind my fence and it was getting dangerous. Now, I didn't expect that quick of a turnaround but I really do appreciate it.

In fact in an email from Donny Hopper, Director of Public Works, he did let me know its not often they can help so fast but they will when they can. I appreciated hearing from him too.

credit: Melissa Bartlett
credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
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It just goes to show that addressing things the right way can get the problems you have solved. Look into who you need to contact. Make the connection and know that your requests are not ignored.

credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
credit: Melissa Bartlett, TSM
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Introducing my new dumpster. I am so happy.

Google Answers the Top 10 Questions About Amarillo

I love Google. It can literally answer ANYTHING you need it to answer. Whether it's right or wrong is a totally different question.

Recently, I found myself wondering about something and went to Google. And that's when I started noticing the "people also asked..." section and BOY...Some of them made perfect sense, some of them were interesting, and one of them was downright baffling...and it was a top 10 question which is even more absurd.

So let's see what we've got. Here's the top 10 questions as asked to Google about Amarillo.

Things We Would Put In Our Version of Cadillac Ranch

 

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