Recycling Bill from McFarland Resident
A couple of months ago, all homeowners in McFarland received a billing statement for their recycling services. A creative McFarland resident was upset about receiving this billing statement for a recycling can that he doesn't utilize, so this person decided to submit his own billing statement to the City of McFarland for rent to store their recycling bin on his property.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/062506_BilltoCity.pdf
I have been told that many other residents have decided to protest this recycling bill by withholding their payments on it.
posted by Rafael Rodarte @ 9:54 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
According to your post on Feb. 17, 2006, the city of McFarland was fined $10,000 for not being in compliance with a recycling program. This would indicate that the recycling program is likely state or county mandated. If that is the case, residents don't have a choice if they want to participate or not. Everyone gets the containers because it is mandated. Residents can choose to actually use the containers or not, but they are encouraged to do so.
I'm sure this "bill to the city" is simply a form of protest, but it is ridiculous to believe that the city can be billed for storage of containers if the program was mandated for all city residents. The city must make sure that certain services are provided for the residents such as water, sewer, garbage collection, public safety, etc. In a "greener" society, recycling programs are becoming a standard part of garbage collection.
It doesn't matter if you take items to a recycling center yourself, use the provided recycling bins, or simply throw everything in the garbage can and say screw it to recycling, you still pay the service as part of the garbage bill and you still have the bins at your house. If you don't want to use the bins for recycling then store dry dog food in them. It doesn't change the fact that you get the bins regardless if you want them or not.
The only valid argument here is over the cost of the garbage/recycling program and who provides the service. Having the bins on your property when you don't use them is not a valid argument if the program is mandated.
Anonymous Well well well you sound like a liberal to me. Let the goverment do what they want and we pay for it, I think not. It may be mandated the city provide the service but not that we have to use it. The other administration didn't have this problem because Gary Johnson took care of it in Sacramento. You say Mcfarland was fined $10,000. You mean the people who pay the bills,you and I. Why don't you go into the city office and find out who is responsible for the fine by not doing their job. As for the use of my recycling bin and dog food,I don't have dogs, I don't like dogs and if I did I would not put dog food in it. It would attract ants, rats and other things. As far as a valid argument for the cans being on anyones property,If the city mandaated that we all go out and bark at the moon at 2am every morning I guess you would do it. The city needs to work on real problems like cars parked in yards,roosters crowing 24 hr a day,trash burning in back yards,2year olds babies in the streets with no parent around and how about 17 people living in one house with 8 cars in front. These are the real problems that reduce our property values. All who agree say amen.
Last One Out, if you read my post above correctly you will see that I said you don't have to participate in the recycling program. You don’t have to use the bins. By the way, I agree with everything you listed at the bottom of your post about things the city needs to crack down on. Amen for that!
I would argue the problem with recycling started in 1989 when the state of California passed AB939 stating that counties had to decrease the amount of refuse going into landfills by 50% by the year 2000. This is what is forcing these types of recycling programs on towns and cities all over the state. It is not just a problem with McFarland. I don’t know exactly what the laws are regarding community recycling programs but I believe they basically come down to participate (which increases costs to residents) or be fined (which is paid for by the city, AKA the residents). Either way we get stuck paying for it.
I cannot disagree with the city of McFarland starting a recycling program. They would probably face fines if they didn’t. I CAN disagree with whom they selected to provide the service. Either way, it will cost every citizen some money. It is just a matter of how much. If you don’t like the recycling program and don’t want bins at your house then changes need to be made in Sacramento. Changes in McFarland can only affect who provides the service, not if the service must be provided or not.
I don’t have children, however part of my property tax goes to pay for schools. I can’t elect not to pay that and I can’t ask the city/county to give that money back to me, as much as I would love to get it back. If you quit running water down your sink drain and start using a hole in the back yard instead of flushing your toilet, you will still have to pay for sewer service because your house is in the city limits. I also can't charge the water company for storing water in my pipes while I am not actively using it. If you have cable or satellite television, you can't ask for 90% of the monthly payment back because you only watch 2.4 hours of TV a day.
I would prefer for the politicians to stop using my money to fund social programs. I would rather keep my money to do with it what I want. I bet I don’t sound liberal anymore, do I?
I’m just saying, because of state laws, we are basically screwed by having to participate in mandatory recycling. You are stuck with the bins if you want to use them or not. You can, however, try to make changes in how much it costs for the service that is forced onto us. Of course, you could try to make changes in Sacramento but they are too afraid of offending the tree sitting, animal loving, pot smoking activists.
Let's not forget about California's up front recycle fee on television/computer screens. As of July 1, 2004 retailers must charge a recycle fee of $6 - $10 any new TV or computer monitor with a CRT (cathode ray tube). As of July 1, 2005 LCD and Plasma displays were added to the list. If anyone has purchased a new TV, computer monitor, laptop, etc. in the last year or two then you have already paid the state of California a recycle fee for that item. When the product is dead and you go to recycle it, depending on where you take it, you can drop if off for free or it might cost you another $10-$15 to recycle it.
So is the City Recall still on?
We are waiting.........
The city council recall is most definitely on. :) We plan to launch a small campaign to remind the community of the recall election and the long list of reasons why the recall should take place.
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