I am still not buying into the supposed excitement of this fight over the landfill. I feel as though I’ve heard both sides present their cases and it’s still as clear as mud.
Waste Management appears to be offering a pretty decent deal for extending the contract with their firm. And the original intent of the council when this contract was signed seems to me like it was for the life of the site.
But, my natural gut reaction is that when in doubt… just “put it out for bid” and see what happens. The free market usually produces competition and thus a better deal.
Now, there are legal issues that make this a bit more sticky.
BUT… I really can’t say I’ve heard anything that makes me passionately support one side or another in this fight.
And what I absolutely don’t understand is the “grassroots outrage” and excitement about one side or the other. People are whipping themselves into a frenzy about this contract. Why?
In practical terms, let’s say I flip a coin and pick the worse of the two deals. It winds up costing the city an extra $100 million over the life of the 30+ year contract. Oops, that’s not good.
But that’s really only $3 million or so a year, right? Heck, let’s say I did a TERRIBLE job flipping a coin and it cost us $5 million a year. In a city with an annual budget of roughly $1 billion… this is not really THAT much money we’re talking about. I would bet you anything we waste much more than $5 million a year
I’m not saying this is an unimportant issue or that we should be careless with taxpayer money. But we have two (or three) giant waste disposal corporations, hiring countless paid consultants, and spending who knows how much money fighting for the affections of 19 city councilmembers… probably 15 of whom are posturing to run for mayor in the next few years.
Meanwhile, the people of Jacksonville just want to have affordable and reliable garbage pick-up. And to not be bothered by guys feeding dollars bills into a fire or shouting “that’s garbage” on television and in the newspaper.
I just hope the city council makes a reasoned and well researched decision… quickly.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
$5 million is not a big deal to you? Do you realize how many homeless people that would feed? How much healthcare that would provide to children living below the poverty level? How many classrooms that would fund?
Apparently, transparency is City government is not something you truly embrace. Not a very typical approach for a blogger.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Dear Asstin,
Are you serious? You haven’t heard anything to make you feel passionate one way or the other? When somebody comes up to you and says that if you don’t give me exactly what I want I am going to take you to court and make you do what I say! That does not make you passionate?
April 9th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Certainly $5 million is a lot of money to local government. BUT… that would represent less than one half of one percent of a billion dollar city budget.
My concern is why we’re not more worried about the other 99.5% and why this garbage issue is eating up all the oxygen in the room while massive waste occurs elsewhere in state and local government.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Which gigantic waste company am I supposed to be outraged by and which one am I supposed to feel has my best interests at heart - Waste Management or Republic Services?
Because both of them have made it very clear that they’re going to sue the city if this doesn’t go the way they want.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Okay, so $5 million is a small percentage of the overall city budget - It’s a muhc larger percentage of the discretionary budget. Most of the budget goes for police and fire protection, keeping the lights on, the kinds of things we can’t really do without. Everything else - parks, senior centers, homeless shelters - add up to a mere pittance, and $5 million is definitely a big deal.
Of course, there is also the idea that government contracts ought not be given to the politically well-connected. I’d gladly pay more taxes for corruption-free government.