Gladiator
Administrator
Posts: -2300
Registered: 3-11-2003
Member Is Offline
Mood: At my signal, unleash hell...
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![[*]](./images/iconic/default_icon.gif) posted on 2-6-2010 at 04:08 PM |
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1310 KFKA: The "Chico" and the trashman revolt...
| Quote: | They will NOT force US!!!
They will STOP degrading US!!!
They will NOT control US!!!
And WE will be VICTORIOUS!!!
-- Muse "Uprising"
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From the: "So comrade Democratic party. How do you like your election tea servered? Iced... Or steaming hot?" department...
1310 KFKA's self described "Regional Mayor" and host of "Saturday's Opinion", Ray Martinez aka "Chico" (His nickname given by fellow City of Fort
Collins Police officers when Martinez was on the force...), claimed victory in the effort to defeat the Fort Collins City Council's steamroller push
to force a trash hauler districting plan in the city...
Martinez, former Mayor of Fort Collins and spokesman / chairman of "Fort Collins Citizens for Competition and Consumer Choice", tried the last few
months almost in vain to get the message out via "The Coloradoan" newspaper and his radio show... But instead, it was a highly successful robo-call
effort, voiced by Martinez, that caused the citizens to rise up and storm the Bastille!!! And the City Coucil folded and dropped their all but imposed
plan before the last minute special city council session even began!!!
Cowards...
Side note: Martinez said on today's radio show that he couldn't find a parking spot and almost couldn't get into the packed meeting, and he was the
spokesman!!! The most disturbing thing in all of this, is the lack of local news awareness by the Fort Fun citizens, who after the call, e-mailed the
City Council and Martinez, telling them that they had no idea this plan was under way...
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Protect Trash Haulers from a government take over
Click here for original article at: raymartinez.com
Misplaced Priorities and a Misguided Approach
Let me try to understand this. While the City faces unprecedented budget problems and challenges with everything from parks upkeep to police
services, the Council is spending its time on trash districting and creating a trash service monopoly.
This is misplaced priorities and opposite of the old adage, "If it's not broke, don't fix it."
Fort Collins has been well-served by our two long-time locally owned trash hauling companies - Gallegos Sanitation and Ram Waste. Customers have
choice and long-time relationships. Competition has served to keep service high and rates low. More recently, Waste Management of Houston, Texas has
provided some further competition, particularly in the commercial market.
But now the City is in the process of pushing through a "pilot" trash district that would disrupt those long-term relationships and grant a
sole-source contract to an out-of-town, multi-national conglomerate with no local roots or commitment. And this would be done at the worst possible
economic time when jobs are precious and scarce.
Locally-owned businesses and jobs would be at risk. Here's why: right now Gallegos and Ram together service over 5,500 customers in the pilot
district ~ while only approximately 900 use Waste. With this one move, Council will be forcing 5,500 Ram/Gallegos customers to move to Waste (or pay
the City's new base fee). What a windfall for Waste, and as for Ram and Gallegos - they will have to lay off 14 long-time local employees because of
the forced removal of their customers and involuntary reassignment to Waste.
And how about you, the citizen?
Yes, the introductory rates look low. But people know this is only the beginning of new "fees" and rate hikes once the two long-term companies are
wiped out and forced out of business. Over time, monopolies inevitably lead to higher rates - and substandard service. (In Loveland, the city runs
trash collection, and its "environmental fee" has increased from $1.25 to over $7.00 - on top of basic trash service fees.)
Ultimately, this comes down to three considerations - choice, service and cost. Choice breeds competition. Competition, over any period of time,
breeds better service and lower costs.
And what about City efforts to give citizens meaningful notice about this important issue? Something is wrong when the Council doesn't take extra
steps to publicize the public hearing about such a controversial undertaking. The meeting was set on very short notice on the City website and
general posting inside City Hall. If this plan is a good idea, why doesn't the Council want an open process and a full, robust public discussion? We
hope this doesn't mean the Council's mind is already made up.
On behalf of Fort Collins Citizens for Competition and Consumer Choice, we believe monopolistic trash districting is the wrong move at the wrong time.
City government has plenty on its plate. The City should focus on its current functions instead of trying to turn successful private businesses into
a government monopoly.
Please visit http://www.donttrashourchoice.org/. Make your voice heard by attending
City Council's hearing on Tuesday, February 2nd at 6 p.m.
Join me in standing up for local jobs, local companies and the principle of competition and choice.
Ray Martinez - Former Mayor of Fort Collins
Chairman - Fort Collins Citizens for Competition and Consumer Choice
http://www.raymartinez.com/
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Trash districting proposal dumped
Hundreds tell council: Put a lid on it
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Click here for original
article at: coloradoan.com
Fort Collins slammed the lid on trash districting Tuesday night.
In the face of a storm of protest, City Council members said they are no longer interested in pursuing a pilot trash district proposed for the
northwest part of Fort Collins.
Council members said they opposed the proposal at the start of a special public hearing on the pilot project, but that did not take the steam out of
the arguments from the flood of residents who came to speak against the idea.
Mixing sarcasm with outrage, speaker after speaker decried the idea of a district and the possibility of not being able to choose which trash company
to do business with. Numerous speakers said the city government should not interfere with trash businesses.
"I want that economic choice," said Joe Sparks, who lives just outside the district. "I believe it's a right to have that economic choice."
Hundreds of residents turned out at City Hall for the unusual hearing, which was intended to take public comment and questions on the matter while the
council took no formal action.
Fire regulations limited the number of people who could be in the council’s chambers and adjoining rooms to 220. Yet at the start of the hearing,
hundreds of people were lined up outside the building, unable to get in.
The overflow crowd was directed to two nearby city buildings to watch the hearing on television and await their chance to speak.
As people left city hall, more came in. The hearing ran more than four and a half hours and featured more than 60 speakers. Nearly all spoke against
the proposal; many were emotional.
Lolly Clarke, a local business owner said, “This is outrageous that you would even consider this.”
If the contract for the pilot district went to Waste Management of Northern Colorado as proposed, locally owned trash-hauling businesses would be
harmed by the city’s action, she said.
“Once you destroy a local business, you can’t bring it back,” she said.
Council members said they heard the complaints of residents loud and clear. Mayor Doug Hutchinson said the pilot district proposal was “toast for
living memory.”
--- Page 2 ---
The proposed district’s boundary would be Prospect Road on the south, College Avenue on the east, the Poudre River on the north and Overland Trail on
the west.
Work of developing the pilot program has gone on about two years. The goal was to have a single hauler provide trash and recycling services in the
area so residents could have the reduced costs enjoyed by members of homeowner associations. Other goals were decreasing the wear and tear on city
streets from several heavy trash trucks in residential areas every week, improving air quality as well as increasing opportunities for recycling.
But residents came out in force to say they didn’t want to change the trash-hauling company they have now. Speakers came from across Fort Collins to
voice their displeasure with the district plan and what it might mean for the city as whole.
Ken Seaman said preference should be given to local companies over Houston-based Waste Management, which is a multinational company.
“Why anyone would want to farm out our trash services to a corporation in Texas is beyond me,” he said.
City officials said they initially tried to negotiate a contract for the district with locally-owned Gallegos Sanitation Inc., or GSI, but could not
reach an agreement. Price made a difference, but other factors also were considered, they said.
The price agreed upon with Waste Management was $7.13 for a 32-gallon unit of trash; GSI’s proposal was $3 higher, officials said.
Kari Gallegos-Doering, marketing director with GSI, held up an apple and an orange to illustrate the differences in the company’s and the city’s
approach to the negotiations.
The company has taken it upon itself to promote recycling and green practices, she said, and GSI wants to cooperate with the city.
“We want to help make Fort Collins a world-class community,” she said. “We will do what we can to work with you — just give us the chance, please.”
George Bryan, who lives in the middle of the district area, said he trusted the council’s judgment. But he didn’t want to see the city “dry up and
blow away” because of weakened local companies.
“It is extremely important for the economic vitality of Fort Collins that, when possible, for goods and service that you deal with people who are
locally owned and locally based,” he said.
The idea of trash districting has been discussed for more than 25 years, said Mayor pro tem Kelly Ohlson. The issues districting is supposed to
address remain, he said, but it won’t come up again with this council.
While saying he supports the concept of districting, the “death knell” for the pilot project was when the contract went to Waste Management rather
than a local company, specifically GSI.
Council member Wade Troxell said the issue should be dead and buried.
“I for one would like to put a stake through the heart of trash districting once and for all,” he said.
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