As warm weather lures people outdoors for sidewalk dining in downtown Lexington, it's a safe bet nobody wants garbage containers at his elbow. With this in mind, the Urban County Council is considering a plan for downtown that would increase the frequency of garbage collection, remove Herbies that never leave the curb and give the sidewalks a daily scrubbing. There's no mystery behind the ubiquitous Herbies, Robinson told the council at a work session yesterday.
Space is tight in many downtown restaurants, stores and offices, and there are few alleys.
That leaves no place for Herbies other than the sidewalk. Robinson's plan which council members said they favor focuses on downtown, from High Street to Third Street. It would replace daily garbage collection Monday through Saturday with continuous collection every few hours from Monday to early Sunday. Because garbage wouldn't stay on the sidewalk for more than a couple of hours, businesses that don't have storage space for Herbies would be issued sturdy garbage bags instead, Robinson said. The thought is that a couple of garbage bags take up less room than a phalanx of Herbies that are empty some of the time, he said.