Editor, The News:
Re: Waste haulers pitch to council (The News, April 17).
I see that waste management companies are lobbying council to refrain from looking at a municipal garbage pickup system.
Of course they don’t want that; it would possibly put someone out of business.
It is nice that council is listening to them because councillors don’t appear to listen to the people who voted them into office and who pay their salaries.
It is time that council start providing services to the taxpayers of this community. I guess that most of the tax dollars in this community are coming from homeowners living outside of the immediate downtown area, all the long-standing residential areas and the vast new developments in areas such as Albion, where homes are going up at great speed. However, the services are not keeping up with the density in those areas. Council has long been focused on the redevelopment of the downtown core.
Enough is enough. It is time to spend some money in other areas of the city. We all deserve to see something for our tax dollars and we all deserve services. I fail to understand why Maple Ridge cannot provide similar waste management services that are operating in every other neighbouring municipality.
We don’t need weekly pickup. Bi-weekly works well in other areas, it could work well here. I cancelled my pick up when it went up to $56 per quarter. I have friends who pay up to $78 per quarter for pick-up. I don’t believe for one moment that bi-weekly service would increase taxes more than $312 per year, which is the amount they are paying.
I requested bi-weekly pickup from my provider, but it was not interested.
I don’t create enough garbage to warrant weekly service. However, I do work close to 50 hours a week so I am not inclined to spend my few precious hours off sitting in a line up at the dump when I pay a sizeable sum annually to the city to provide me with basic city services. I would like city hall to start listening to those people who are asking for this, the most basic of city service. I understand long-time Ridge residents don’t want the service and are happy with the status quo, but you have people moving into this area who are used to getting something for their money, and believe me, it is a shock to find out that something as basic as garbage collection is unheard of here.
Those people are paying taxes too and it is time council started to pay attention.
Metro Vancouver has introduced stringent rules regarding waste management and we are all going to be held accountable and will have to adhere to those rules. I have seen nothing from the city to advise me how I should handle my garbage or food waste. There is simply no leadership on this issue and there should be.
It is very frustrating to move into an area, as I did to this area 15 years ago, and see no visible progress in that time, only more and more homes going up with no shopping locally, road works on 240th that have been ongoing for all of those 15 years. If council is going to continue to allow development at the rate we are seeing now, it must be willing to look at providing services to these areas outside of the downtown core.
Isabella Beane
Maple Ridge