I April of this year, "The Powers That Be" changed the rules for the local garbage dump so that there is now a $20 fee (minimum) for dropping off your recycling.
Up to that point, getting rid of your recyclable items had always been free, and there had been several drop-off locations around the county.
But it was decided — due to so-called "budget constraints" — to remove the drop-off stations, and to put all the recycling dumpsters "behind the fence," meaning that you now have to "weigh in" and "weigh out," and be charged, in the process.
You could argue that "$20 is not very much," but with as many people struggling financially as we have these days... that $20 is likely needed to put some $6.00 gas in our cars so we can even get to work.
But beyond that, wouldn't it be more appropriate to treat a community's waste processing as a civic service rather than as a profit center?
Of course, it is pretty much inevitable that choices have consequences.
The new ordinance has barely been in effect for six weeks, and business owners around town are already complaining that random people are doing "drive-by dumping" of garbage into their commercial dumpsters, thereby not only causing them to overflow, but creating an additional mess around the dumpsters.
And yes, this definitely is an illegal activity.
According to the legal experts, this is actually called "theft of services" and carries a possible $10,000 fine! But there's also the practical aspect that a business can't just order a random extra pick-up as part of their contract. So the recycling and garbage just builds up.
Of course, there are also the practical and more immediate ramifications: Many local businesses are now having to spend extra money on security cameras and monitoring equipment... as well as choosing to pay for more expensive lockable dumpsters.
Ultimately, pretty much everyone loses.
Meanwhile, our heavily pro-business, pro-development city council members are busy brokering real estate deals that will allegedly bring in more property tax dollars... from more million dollar houses and waterfront condos that will likely sit empty until the builders go bankrupt, after which they will be bought up by private equity investment corporations for pennies on the dollar, only to become top-market rentals that most existing locals cannot hope to afford... in a market that has been screaming for affordable housing for over a decade.
In a "normal" town it might be less of an issue, but the challenge here is that the city is located at the tip of a peninsula with no other population centers nearby... and we're rapidly moving towards a situation in which the people providing the services to the owners of those million dollar homes can no longer afford to live here on their retail and hospitality wages...
Looks like we might end up with a very swank little city... with pretty much no services. And since the "target market" is largely wealthy retirees you have to wonder how many retired people will want to actually move to a location that may be beautiful, safe and clean, but essentially has very little to offer, service wise?
All these little nickel-and-dime expenses are certainly part of creating that situation...
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