We got to the zoo area, several blocks from the entrance, at 11:30. (tried at 9:30 but it was jammed so we thought we'd wait until the furor died down) We had to turn left to get in the lot. The traffic coming the other way let nobody turn and the people coming straight in from Jewett just scooted right in. There was no traffic control. The lines went as far as you could see in 3 directions. I called the cops at noon and begged for some traffic control. There were police cars inside the gates, but none controlling traffic on the roads. They finally came and the traffic started moving and they closed the thing down at 12:20. We never got in. Many of us just pulled over and schlepped our stuff in. hundreds of people, trying to do the right thing, turned away because of poor planning. Very sad. It's real easy to just bury those old' puters in the bottom of your tote. I wonder how many folks will remember this next time and do just that? We need these collections more often, in more places. Oh, and traffic control would be real nice.

ArtGypsy - there was traffic control. I saw at least 3 police cars on Parkside.

It seemed to me that the officers must have missed traffic control class. They blocked access, forced traffic on to side streets, frustrated many potential recyclers, and generally added to the traffic mess.

Rather than allow cars to enter the parking lot from both directions on Parkside the police forced cars to detour through the neighborhood (with no direction from the police) so that the traffic backed up North of the parking lot entrance and Parkside South of the entrance was empty of vehicles . ?&^%$ I'm sure the elephants and giraffes were amused.

I think the police department needs to hire an out of town consultant on simple traffic control.

PART II: COMPUTERS: Best Buy offers a trade in center of gently used electronics as well, but I'm sure there are caveats: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat133600050011&type=category Locally you can donate computers, keyboards, mice, networking equipment (plus printers and scanners for a fee) here to be used again. www.ComputersForChildren.com on Delaware Avenue. Again, caveats, but not too bad if you're a PC holder - no Macs. GENERAL ELECTRONICS RECYCLING INFO and dozens of more places to donate etc: http://earth911.org/electronics/

CELL PHONES RECEYLING: Did you miss it and have a cell phone to recycle? Here are a couple sites to do the right thing, even if the proceeds don't go to the Zoo, you can still feel good that the precious metals in your cell phones are being recycled and reused. Or you could go with the Gift Cards option and hand the Gift Card to the Zoo. They might be able to use it in an auction or something... Want Gift Cards in return for your cell phone??? http://www.ripmobile.com Want a tax donation for your cell phone? Visit http://www.collectivegood.com You decide a charity who will benefit from it. Use the menu bar on the left to view charities by type or by region. The SPCA of Erie County is on it. Have a little extra time on your hands? Read some of the articles they have posted about phone recycling. Very interesting - especially the one about the metals mining in the Congo.

While the wait was more than I expected, I still thought it was a well run and apparently desperately needed event. The traffic on Parkside was excessive and a police presence probably would have been beneficial. All I had to drop off was an old VCR and in retrospect I probably should have just parked on a side street and hoofed it over.

Was it definitely staffed by city employees? I saw some people wearing vests from local volunteer organizations. I thought perhaps it was volunteer staffed.

Thanks for all the year round options for programs similar to this. Good to know!