Frustrated Homeowner Takes Trash to City Hall

N.Y. (AP) -- One man's trash became a town hall's displeasure when a resident fed up with lagging recycling collection carted about eight pounds of cardboard to the town building's steps.

Tom Mirabelli said trash collectors missed two scheduled cardboard pickups at his Medford home over three weeks. The collections are scheduled every other week, according to town officials.

After a call to the town waste management department and a dispute with a trash collector who refused to take the cardboard, Mirabelli said, he carted it Tuesday to Brookhaven Town Hall, in Farmingville.

That brought citations with charges including littering and obstructing a right of way, which Mirabelli said he tore up in front of town officials.

"In retrospect, I shouldn't have done it," Mirabelli, 61, said Thursday. "I admit I was wrong for putting the garbage on their steps, but I was frustrated."

Mirabelli, a retired computer operations manager who worked for the Nassau County government, has a court date Sept. 6.

Town spokesman Michael Pitcher said the town has to enforce illegal dumping laws, but Mirabelli's beef was "a problem that the town wants to be solved."

Public safety officers ultimatedly removed the cardboard dropped at the town hall, after cordoning off the steps and entrance.

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