I just got my new 2018 Waste Management bill for three months (32 gallons) of $59.70, up about 55 percent from previous bills of $38.55. I realize there is always a bit of inflation but 55 percent? By chance, did the city hire the negotiator from the Pentagon’s F35 program for the Waste Management contract?
I also read that pot was legal in California in 2018 but our City Council decided that a retail pot store was not appropriate for our fair city. How am I supposed to relieve the anxiety of opening my Waste Management garbage bill? I’m very unhappy with our City Council.
— Geoff Bartels, Chico
You know how I love to say “I told you so.”
That’s not really true – it drives me nuts, trying to get people to pay attention to an issue when there’s still time to stop the bulldozers, but they give me that same old tired bullshit – I’m sorry, I have a life! Why don’t you get one Juanita?
But of course, later, they get to whine and complain about it.
Somebody read one of my old posts on the subject yesterday, from 2014. At that time, Joe Matz of Recology was saying rates would triple, and the city was looking at requiring service for everybody. If you wanted to haul your own trash they wanted to inspect your vehicle, etc, which was tantamount to requiring a hauler’s permit.
When Juanita raised her scrawny little fist and said, “If you require service the city will have to provide a low-income subsidy…”
To which the consultant answered, “She’s right.” He smiled at me across the room. It wasn’t the consultant’s fault, he was very truthful about the whole thing.
OOO! The bulldozers had to stop and listen! You’ll notice, service is not required under this deal, and you can still take your trash to the dump without a hauler’s permit. Which means, neighbors/relatives/friends can still share cans to save money.
Just think if there was four more Juanitas. Or at least four more people who went to these meetings and raised a scrawny little fist?
And here’s what I’ll tell Geoff – read the Waste Management website – you can opt out of yard waste service and save almost $6 bucks a month. My family, who share service with our tenants, also opted for a smaller bin. Our son has moved away to college and our tenants don’t have much trash either – we realized we didn’t need that 96 gallon bin anymore.
Once I made those changes in our account, the rate is still about $5 more per month. No, I’m not happy about that. But I wish people who complain would educate themselves – the real problem at this point is the city wants to use the new revenue to pay down their pension deficit instead of fixing the streets like they said they would. That’s where we need to hit them, and hard.
In fact, public works director Brendon Ottoboni says the road/streets fund is tapped, and they are almost 10 years behind on necessary projects. When developer Bill Webb asked at a recent public meeting how a person could get their street on the projects list, Ottoboni again said there’s no money for fixing any more streets.
This is the “pedestrian right-of-way” down my street. Every now and then I look in that pothole, make sure there isn’t an old lady or a jogger with a stroller stuck down in there…
Want to have some fun? Write to council member Randy Stone, who recently declared the deal was working cause we have less trucks on the streets.
randall.stone@Chicoca.gov
Really Randy? On Wednesday I have a Recology truck on my street, servicing the “commercial enterprise” known as the Evangelical Free Church. On Thursday my bins are picked up by Waste Management. On Friday Waste Management picks up the bins on the street that intersects my street. So, I get a minimum of seven trucks a week running up and down the street in front of my house.
How about another picture.
The asphalt is almost completely separated from the base here.
But here’s another funny fact – my street is not considered a “feeder” by the city of Chico, because there is no new subdivision on my street, so my street will never be on the “projects” list – ask Ottoboni about that.
brendan.ottoboni@Chicoca.gov
Letters to the editor of a newspaper that reaches less than a third of local residents isn’t going to cut it. A few months ago council member Ann Schwab suggested a complaint line for garbage customers so they wouldn’t have to write to the mayor. Why not write to the mayor? He approved this deal too.
sean.morgan@Chicoca.gov
Don’t forget the chief engineer – city mangler Mark Orme
mark.orme@Chicoca.gov
If you’re going to complain, make it count.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Waste Management to give some employees $2,000 in bonuses following tax bill passage.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/waste-management-to-give-some-workers-2000-in-bonuses-after-tax-bill.html
The company said the cash bonuses will be given to its North American employees who are not on a bonus or sales incentive plan, including hourly and other employees.
The news comes after other companies have made similar announcements, citing the passage of tax legislation that slashes the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.
CEO Jim Fish said in a statement the company wanted to pass on the tax benefit to its employees.
That’s good news – when I looked into Waste Management labor policies during a strike in Southern California, they were paying their truck drivers as little as $10-11/hour, with no benefits. Their drivers’ union complained they had a lot of undocumented laborers who didn’t speak English – this made labor negotiations tougher, and made it easier to take advantage of the employees. Hopefully this is a signal that their workers will be treated better in future.
Poorly paid full time labor creates poverty in our community and more stress on the middle class to pay for things like food stamps and health care services.
I hope this is a sign that jobs are coming back too.