Fast forward to the May Town Council meeting where a group of people thought it would be an inconvenience to have to wheel down to the curb the garbage cans. They said that they were going to start a petition to stop the new automated garbage collection from going into affect.
This past Tuesday, we had the referendum, out of over 13000 voters only 3680 voted. The vote was 1,964 on favor of the old manual garbage collection system to 1,716 in favor of the new automated system.
As a result of the vote, the Town Council said at an emergency meeting last night that we should plan on taking our garbage for at least 2 weeks to the town garage. Because it will take that long for the bidding process. The town council said that so far they have not heard from any garbage companies that are interested in bidding.
The Town Council also is setting aside $1,000,000 for the lawsuit that is expected for breach of contract and the mill rate will probably go up by a half mill.
Meanwhile, I have a brand new 95 gal. garbage can sitting in my garage.
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This is why I am against ballot initiatives. It makes for bad government. We elect our public officials to make decisions and if we do not like what they do, we can vote them out of office.
The council spent several months researching the issue and held public meetings that practically no one attended. The opposition started a petition drive a little over a month before the contract went in to effect and were able to collect enough signatures to call for a referendum. They then mounted a slick campaign where they never mentioned the fact that there was a signed contract and we might be sued. Their estimate of the cost of the contract was questionable and they pushed the fact that you had to wheel these “big” cans down to the street. The voter succumbed to the propaganda and voted to overturn the signed contract and got us into the mess that we are now in.
Ain't democracy grand? It really is the worst possible system. Unless you look at the alternatives!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I do admire how the anti-automated garbage people got their point across. Telling the complete story is not their responsibility. That would be the job of the pro-automated garbage people. (I'm curious, don't people take their cans down to the curb, now?)
The problem with ballot initiatives is that they really do embody the democratic principle. As California's Prop 8 so egregiously pointed out. They're not right, they're not wrong - they simply are what they are. The campaigns for either side have to persuade the people, and that's always a messy process. The truth is hidden as much as it is displayed! Indeed, whatever the truth is can be a darned inconvenience to both sides of a ballot debate.
Besides that, I wonder what else was behind their "inconvenience" argument? That's the argument that was lost, not one about inconvenience. When something like this gets this much attention, it's not the issue at hand that's the problem - it's nearly always some ideology. (The organizers of the petition probably knew it would cost a million or more to get out of the contract. They probably didn't care. At the next election, you probably will see the real reason put on display. I'm fairly certain it'll be ideological. Interesting tactics on the part of the anti-automated garbage crowd, however. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a strangely myopic long-term view of some right-wing talking point.)
Don't blame ballot initiatives - they're an essential part of democracy. Yes, our elected officials are supposed to make decisions for us, but you only have to think about Dover, PA to see how badly that can work out. The tension between the elected official and the ballot box helps ensure the will of the people is heard. There's just no requirement that we like the results! (A lengthy discussion about checks to ensure the majority doesn't impose upon the minority, or the minority dictate to the majority could ensue from this point.)
Sorry!
Carolyn Ann
PS For a voting population of 13,000, having 3680 vote on an issue like this isn't too bad. That's a 35% turnout! So it definitely was important to many.
You hit the nail on the head...
ReplyDeleteThe organizers of the petition probably knew it would cost a million or more to get out of the contract. They probably didn't care. At the next election, you probably will see the real reason put on display. I'm fairly certain it'll be ideological. Interesting tactics on the part of the anti-automated garbage crowd, however. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a strangely myopic long-term view of some right-wing talking point.
The campaign was lead by the former mayor.