Excerpt: Our Stiff Neck of the Woods, the sights and scents of spring include garbage trucks, swirling squadrons of garbage gulls and Eau de Newark. The “Hi and Lois” strip from Sunday bloomed in time to remind us living in the growing shadow of Mount Trashmore the existential threat it poses to the region’s health, wealth and future prospects.

“The bigger this thing grows, the more likely it is going to be to drive away any desire to start companies here, to relocate families here in the future,” Pat said, “because that will be the dominant first thing anyone will think of, and reputation and brand matters.”