Over the last week or so I’ve noticed people have come to my blog with searches for information about the new garbage franchise deal the city of Chico cut with Waste Management.
You know, I’ve been bitching about this deal, here and in the newspaper, since 2012. But, as I predicted, General Public – the guy who always has something better to do than pay attention – has not heard a word about it until he got a card from Waste Management about a week ago.
Friends of mine just told me, as if they were the first ones to figure it out – did I know the city had changed their waste hauler without their permission?!
I watch the agendas, available here:
http://www.chico.ca.us/government/minutes_agendas.asp
I wish more of you would do same, instead of waiting until the bad stuff happens, and then bitching about it after it’s too late to do anything.
I also got a card from Recology, my old carrier, with whom I have been, rentals and all, since about 2000, when I told Waste Management to stay the hell off my property. I had never signed up for Waste Management willingly – they took my account forcibly from a guy named Tom – remember Tom’s Dispose-All? For whatever reason, the county showed Tom the door, and gave all his accounts to WM – then known as Butte County Dispose-All.
This whole story stinks of racketeering and cronyism. Ask Butte County Landfill manager Bill Mannell what trash company he ran before he got the job at Neal Road dump.
My service from Waste Management was horrible, so I switched to Recology, and I never had a single complaint in 17 years. As soon as Waste Management took over two weeks ago, I had problems.
I could have set my watch by Recology – they came at almost exactly the same time every week. Especially the garbage truck – every Friday, 11:27 am. At that time I knew my recycling bin had already been emptied and I could go out and get my cans off the street. I also knew I didn’t have to leave my cans out the night before because Recology never came to my house before 7am, I had plenty of time to take the cans out in the morning.
Why is this important? Well I found out yesterday, when I came home from the grocery store at exactly 2pm to find a transient, at least 4 full drawstring waste bags hanging from his shoulders, making a move on my still-full recycling bin.
He had just finished taking stuff out of my neighbor’s bin. I pulled my car alongside my can and told him to “get the fuck out of there NOW!” He immediately put his hands up and walked. Smart man – I had my hand on that can of Whoop-Ass, and I was about to open it on him. I’m from Glenn County, where people don’t let their mouth write a check their ass can’t cash.
About 40 minutes later, the WM truck showed up and emptied my bin.
I had a restless night, wondering what kind of town this was getting tobe. So, this morning I wrote a note to Ryan West at Waste Management – that’s rwest1@wm.com. I cc’d city manager Mark Orme and my just-for-now county supervisor Maureen “I’m moving to a Del Webb retirement community” Kirk:
Yesterday we put our bins out by 6am as instructed by our new hauler, but when I came home from a trip to the store at exactly 2pm yesterday I found my recycling bin had not yet been picked up. And here’s just what I’ve predicted – as I pulled along the street toward my driveway a man came along with at least 4 full drawstring bags over his shoulders, went through my neighbor’s recycling bin pulling items out, and then walked over to my bin and started to raise the lid. I pulled my car alongside the bin and told him to “get the ‘f’ out of there!” He held his hands out and left.
The recycling truck didn’t show up until after 2:30.
I’m not a paid law enforcement officer, I shouldn’t have to encounter people like that at the end of my driveway. My husband was worried that I confronted the guy when I told him about it. He’s afraid this person might have attacked me. My kids and my tenant’s kids and all my neighbor’s kids play in their front yards – we should not have to worry about people like that in our neighborhood.
I never noticed this kind of brazen behavior in my neighborhood before, and I’m going to lay it on Waste Management. Recology had both our bins picked up by noon, 1 pm at latest. I’m not willing to accept lesser service because of this deal. We’ve been told we could expect the same service and more!
I’ll tell you one thing, I won’t be putting my recycling bins out at 6am anymore, and I’ll be cleaning anything of “value” out of them before I put them on the street. I’m going to make sure there’s not so much as a plastic water bottle in there anymore. It’s just an invitation to the bums into our neighborhoods, and then they help themselves to anything that ain’t nailed down.
Thank you for listening to my complaint, I hope it’s the last. I included Mark and Maureen to keep them up on the bum problem, and because they both advocated for the trash franchises.
Juanita Sumner
But it doesn’t end there! This morning when my husband took our dog for the usual walk in the park, he found bins all along the street leading to the park that had been put out for pick-up yesterday morning, but were still full. At exactly 2:38 this afternoon, I heard the trucks picking them up. So, those recycling cans were out there for two days, for the convenience of the little army of the night.
When I heard the trucks, I took out my cell phone (because I was outside doing chores in my tenant’s yard) and I wrote them another note.
I’m sorry – am I a harpy? Well that’s what it takes.
Our public employees have taken our fair market system and played it like a fiddle for their own personal gain. Management promised us they’d use the franchise money to fix the streets, but you saw how quickly city manager Mark Orme tried to talk council into using the money to pay down the pension deficit. Listen – that didn’t happen because many of you squealed about it, and there’s an election coming next year.
They promised us we’d get all kinds of new services – according to the WM website, all that extra stuff also costs extra.
They threaten us with fines if our can lids are “propped open” – you mean, left open by bums rifling through for valuables while our cans sit in the street for 12 – 48 hours, waiting for pick-up?
They say we have to pay for damaged cans – given the way the trucks handle the bins, and then leave them standing halfway out in the street?
They say we are responsible for graffiti on the cans, when we are expected to leave them out before 6 am without any assurance they’ll be picked up quickly?
So, yeah, we’re allowed to complain, please do so.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Orme tried to talk council into using the money to pay down the pension deficit.
Not to mention give himself a $9,000 a year raise and of course raises for other bureaucrats.
There’s no money to fix the roads but plenty of money for raises for the bureaucracy.
This city government is corrupt and anyone without their head buried in the sand can see it from a thousand miles away.
This city government is corrupt and anyone without their head buried in the sand can see it from a thousand miles away.
You got it. People have got to wake up. The public at larges loves to complain but never wants to act.
The problem is that most voters don’t care.
I think another problem is the issues are so convoluted a lot of voters don’t have confidence that they understand anything.