Taking out trash to cost more in Menlo Park Around Town, posted by Editor, The Almanac Online, on Dec 14, 2011 at 12:40 pm
A reluctant council unanimously passed an 8 percent increase for garbage service in Menlo Park during its Dec. 13 meeting. "I think it's hard for people to fathom that when we recycle more, our rates go up," Mayor Kirsten Keith commented.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 11:00 AM
Posted by falcon, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 12:40 pm
I have heard a lot of trash talk, but this B.S. rate hike trash talk by the Council is total garbage. Somebody on the Council needs to learn how to negotiate.
Posted by hawk, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 4:03 pm
falcon: The city council doesn't negotiate the labor rates. If they did, garbage rates would be going down, not up. Allied Waste negotiated all of the current contracts. The Teamsters received such large raises that our rates still went up even though Recology's collection system uses far fewer employees. Go figure.
Posted by Peter Carpenter, a resident of the Atherton: Lindenwood neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 8:31 pm
A designated representative of the City DID negotiate the current 10 year unbreakable contract which literally guarantees rates that provide Recology a profit after passing through any and al of their labor costs. It is a horrible contract and the City and the City Council accepted it without reservation. Now it is time to pay the price.
Posted by simple, a resident of the Menlo Park: other neighborhood, on Dec 14, 2011 at 11:50 pm
I'd like the council to abandon that under-the-sink kitchen waste bucket, and give a composter to people that want one. When we put kitchen scraps in the big green yard waste bin, State law requires that it get picked up every week (according to Gino Gasparini). Picking up yard waste every two weeks should give residents 20% savings.
Posted by hawk, a resident of the Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park neighborhood, on Dec 15, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Peter - Your ire is misplaced. The 10 year contract with Recology is not what is causing rates to go up. Rather, its the lavish, labor contracts that Recology inherited from Allied. Once these expire, some sanity will return since the contract with Recology is fixed price and labor increases cannot be simply passed through to the member agencies (as is now the case).
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