And Another Supporter...Vote No for Prop A on April 5!

Council Members, thank you for letting me speak today.

I am opposed to Proposition A.  According to the proponents of this Proposition, a “Yes” vote would give Jefferson City residents more choice when it comes to their trash service.  Well, for me, and for most of the residents of our city, the current trash and recycling service is our choice.

I personally worked since 2007 both as a regular citizen and as a member of the Environmental Quality Commission to find a plan that would provide the most convenience, the lowest cost and the best service to the people of the city.  After two years of research, focus groups, a pilot project, surveys, and market evaluation, we were confident that we found the best service for the most people.  That was why I, along with the majority of Jefferson City residents, urged our council members in 2009 to pass approval for the current service.  It was our choice.

Did it make everyone happy?  No.

Unfortunately, the bag customers experienced the biggest change because of an evolving industry that no longer picked up bags.  But the plan has worked for most of us.  And it added curbside recycling, prolonging our landfill.

This service is still our choice.  But the proponents of Prop A want to take our choice away.  They want to take us back to where we started.  They say the Proposition will still mandate everyone to throw away their trash.  Well, it’s always been a mandate to dispose of your trash, even before the current ordinance.  But people have interpreted that mandate differently.  For some people, it meant taking their trash to the landfill on their own – a responsible choice to be sure.  But doing so currently costs a minimum of $30 to $35 per load for household waste, double the monthly rate for house pick-up.  Others interpreted that “mandate” to mean hiding trash in their basement, stuffing it underneath their porch, dumping it in the woods, sticking it in a local business dumpster in the middle of the night, burning it, or (and this was the most creative example that I learned of) dropping it in public picnic area bins on the way to Columbia.

I say no thank you.  We have our choice in place right now.  Please don’t take us back to the way it was.  I sincerely ask Jefferson City residents to vote for the next generation; vote for a cleaner community; vote to keep your choice.

Don’t throw a good thing away, please vote NO on Prop A!

E.H.