Ford Trucks For Sale

The Reno City Council will hold a public hearing on whether restrictions should be placed on where truck stops can be located. A truck stop has been proposed to be built at I-80 and Robb Drive. The hearing has been set for 6 p.m. at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center Wednesday.

“This is a residential area and it would be nice to keep it a residential area,” Gina Battle, who lives near Robb Drive, said.

The city says the Flying J truck stop will be close to the interchange, allowing truckers quick on and off access. But some say additional trucks, means additional traffic.

“It would bring more of the traffic off of the freeway and into the neighborhoods so to say and we don’t really need that,” Battle said.

According to a city staff report, studies of traffic and noise would have to be conducted. But some say the location is too close to homes, and isn’t right for the neighborhood.

“We already have a lot of areas around here that aren’t filled up a lot of shopping centers that… aren’t leased out and I don’t think it’s necessary that it needs to be right off the freeway in people’s backyards,” Ruthie Thompson, a resident of the area, said.

A public hearing will also be held for people to discuss a controversial condo project for the South Meadows. The Boulevard South towers have been criticized for being too tall and not appropriate for the neighborhood. Some South Meadows residents are also concerned about increased traffic.

Tossing bags that can weigh as much as 50 pounds from in front of as many as 500 homes is a difficult job, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not one worth doing.

“They think it’s bad because it’s trash,” Mike Robinson, a residential trash employee for Olathe said of the public’s perception. “It’s hard work, but it’s not a bad job.”

Donnie Morrison, the commercial supervisor in the solid waste division, began throwing trash for the city 15 years ago. He said it wasn’t a glamorous job.

“No one grows up and says, ‘I want to be a trash man,’” he said.

Robinson and 29 others who work for the division patrol the city’s neighborhood streets, often working overtime to make sure what you put in front of your house to be disposed of doesn’t stay there long.

Three groups comprise the division: residential, commercial and recycling. Each week, the city collects trash from 35,200 Olathe houses, yard waste from 32,000 houses and recycling from 10,000 houses.

Unlike most of the more than 900 city employees who had the day off on Veterans Day, Robinson and his fellow workers hit the streets to pick up residents’ grass clippings, leaves, small plant trimmings and tree limbs.

It looked like a little boy’s dream come true in front of Springfield’s Fire Station No. 1 Monday morning.

Four brand-new, sparkling red fire engines were parked in the driveway, complete with new car smell inside, stairs that automatically descend when the doors are opened and side mirrors that are controlled electronically.

“I think we’re more excited about this than anyone else,” joked Fire Chief John Kulek.

It’s been a while. The engines will replace vehicles in the fire department’s fleet that are as many as 22 years old.

“In 2000 and 2001, they got new aerial Trucks, but there have been no new frontline vehicles for quite some time,” said Mayor Tim Davlin as he stood in front of the purchases.

The Trucks cost about $460,000 each for a total of $1.8 million.

“This is really a big thing, a long time coming,” Davlin said.

The police department is expected to get some good news soon, too, with 50 new police cars on the way, the mayor said.

“The last city council came to the conclusion that we needed to spend some money (on equipment),” Davlin said.

Kulek said the Trucks have better suspension and brake systems than older Springfield fire engines.

“It will be safer for our guys. They can get to the scene safely and on time,” he said. “When we’re running hot through city streets, we’ll have better control and better stopping.

“We train on defensive driving,” he said, “but someone comes from behind, and when it’s car versus fire Truck, you can imagine who will win in that situation.”

The new trucks, which are made by the same company as others in the fleet, will also be easily repaired because the city can stock all the same replacement parts.

To prevent the city from having to spend so much at one time again, Kulek said the fire department is trying to get on a steady program under which one new Truck is purchased each year. There is another new one in the budget for the current fiscal year, he said.

The new engines will be housed at fire stations on Stevenson Drive, at Ninth and Ash streets, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and on Koke Mill Road.

Some engines currently used at those firehouses will be worked into the backup fleet, and the oldest in the backup fleet will be sold at a city auction next year, Kulek said.