Those in favor most often cited the need to cut down on the number of trucks in the neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Thursday morning my normally serene suburban home life is shattered by a steady caravan of heavy trucks,\u201d wrote John Zimmerman. \u201cAir brakes squeal, backup alarms chirp, and I lose track after the tenth truck has rolled through.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Bear in mind, Bloomington already has a semi-government-run system, doling out parts of the city to seven different haulers. \u00a0The city wants to go from picking seven winners to picking one:<\/p>\n
The city still is negotiating with the seven haulers, but the most recent proposal would cost the average household $18.42 a month for trash and recycling pickup, said Public Works Director Karl Keel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When the government wants to socialize a municipal service, the first number they give you is like that 3% interest rate on your credit card, or that first joint they give the grade school kids; it’s a teaser. \u00a0It will not last.<\/p>\n
In \u00a0Maplewood, the rates may not have risen – but the “fees” tacked onto the rates certainly have. \u00a0The “winning” hauler also made the rate by supplying cheap trash carts that fell apart after a year, cutting corners on customer service, and other “savings” that, in a free market, you don’t have to tolerate.<\/p>\n
I pay $20 a month, fees and all, to a ma and pa company that calls me if I forget a \u00a0payment, picks up extra stuff without any muss and fuss, and always answers the phone on the second ring.<\/p>\n
Think you’ll get that with one big municipal service?<\/p>\n
Opportunity Dumps<\/strong>: \u00a0If you’re a Bloomington Republican, here’s a classic example of a local issue that your candidates can use to set themselves apart from the incumbents (who, on the Bloomington City Council, favor the proposal 6-1). \u00a0Yes, it’s early. \u00a0No, it’s it’s not early enough. \u00a0If you’re thinking about being a conservative candidate for Bloomington City Council, you should be out there on the barricades today.<\/p>\n(And if you’re a “liberty” supporter? \u00a0Helping the people win this battle would convince a lot more people that you’re not just a bunch of white frat boys wallowing in an echo chamber eating chicken wings and listening to each other argue about who’s the biggest Austrian-schooler).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Currently, Bloomington\u2019s 26,000 households pay an average of $26.72 a month. Keel estimated that city residents would save about $13 million over a five-year hauling contract.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Many residents have pointed out that by negotiating with different haulers, they\u2019ve been able to get extremely low rates. Council Member Tim Busse was skeptical of some claims.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to meet the residents who are getting their trash [picked up] for 10 bucks a month,\u201d Busse said. \u201cI want to take you with me the next time I buy a car. That\u2019s some pretty good negotiating.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, the council voted 6-1 to continue negotiating the single-hauler deal, with only Cynthia Bemis Abrams opposing. A public hearing will be held before a final decision is made.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bloomington residents are having the same “debate” that Maplewood residents had a while ago, and that Saint Paul residents barely manage to stave off, year over year; socialized trash collection. \u00a0In Saint Paul, every few years, a coalition of: Environmentalists who think that having one truck go through your alley every week is better than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,2,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy-and-the-market","category-minnesota-politics","category-socialism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53244"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53250,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53244\/revisions\/53250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}