Editor, The News:
I believe I may have found a solution to the garbage pickup issue in our community.
Let me state firstly that the current situation is totally ridiculous. I have four garbage trucks driving up and down my street every Tuesday morning, plus the city recycling vehicle.
What a waste of fuel and money and a large source of pollution to our air space.
Now the proposed solution: Invite all the private companies that currently service Maple Ridge to divide up the district into service areas. Let them decide what is fair and leave the local government out of it.
This way each would have a concentrated route that they would operate in. Less driving for each would be a fuel and time saving, and there for a cost saving for them and possibly they, in turn, would pass those savings on to us.
To make this work it would have to be mandatory to subscribe to garbage pick up (but we would be forced to do that any way if it was included in our taxes).
With this proposal, our taxes would not rise at all, the currently operating companies would not lose their territories, and quite possibly their jobs, there would be far less dumping of garbage in our ditches and streams, and we may even see a reduction in our garbage pick up rates.
Looks like a win-win for all involved.
Dean Cousins
Maple Ridge