Questions July 4 garbage pickup

To the Editor:

Judging by the number of homes in Gibson and the south side of Valley Stream with their garbage on the curb on July 5, I was not the only one unaware that there was no pickup on July 5, the day after the holiday. The Sanitation Department told me that the sanitation trucks were sent out on July 4, the holiday. When I asked why no one was notified, the explanation was that it was in the newsletter sent out by the village. However, in the 35 years I have lived here, garbage has never been picked up on a holiday regardless of where you live. When I saw the Fourth of July as regular pickup in the newsletter and the Labor Day pickup scheduled for the day after Labor Day, my first thought was that there was a typo. Apparently that was not the case. 

There are two problems with this scenario. Since the residents were not aware that pickup would be July 4, no garbage was put out, so the trucks basically rode around and picked up very little or nothing on July 4. Because it was a holiday, the workers were paid double-time, whereas if the pickup was made on July 5, it would be straight time.