Eew Spy: Sanit Putting GPS In Garbage Trucks

By REUVEN BLAU

The Sanitation Department has started a pilot program placing Global Positioning Systems in its 2,230 collection trucks to better monitor their routes, THE CHIEF-LEADER has learned.

HARRY NESPOLI: Follow that trash.

The department has already placed the GPS computers in 60 of its 360 Salt-Spreader trucks that are used during snowstorms. "The department is testing the GPS technology to determine if the equipment could have any application in our collection and snow fighting operations" said department spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins.

The plan comes as a group of cabdrivers struck for two days last week, protesting the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission's requirement that they include GPS computers in their cars and install other new technologies such as credit-card readers.

Union: 'No Problem'

The union representing Sanitation Workers, however, did not object to the department's scheduled pilot program. "I have no problem with it at all," said Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association. "If they want to waste money when they already have a foreman to make sure that we start at point A and finish at Z that's their choice."

Mr. Nespoli said that the GPS computers in the salt-spreader vehicles actually have been helpful. "I think that's very important," he remarked during a Sept. 5 phone interview, "because they can reroute a salt spreader to a place with ice." The system also tracks how much salt is released at each area, he added.

Sanitation Workers are required to collect a specific amount of waste tonnage each day, he pointed out. "My guys and ladies go out there and all they do is their job," he said. "It's very hard to hide that big white elephant." For that reason, he continued, placing GPS computers in their trucks makes no sense. "Maybe they want to go out and get helicopters, because with helicopters they can spot everything," he asserted. "Basically some of my members feel they are being watched too much."

It is unclear how many GPS the department plans to purchase and how much each system costs.

Spend It on Garages?

The union president urged the Bloomberg administration to instead use the money to repair its old and dilapidated garages. Mr. Nespoli has repeatedly said the DSNY desperately needs to revamp many of its 59 facilities throughout the city.

The department declined to discuss details of the GPS pilot program, including where it would start and what the department was looking to accomplish with the new systems in place.

Some speculated last week that the GPS technology may eventually allow the department to pare back its staff of supervisors, who closely monitor collection routes throughout the city.

Joe Mannion, the president of Sanitation Officers' Association Local 444, which represents those supervisors, did not return calls seeking comment.