Posted September 5, 2014
Next Thursday, the city is holding a public meeting to unveil its plan to manage solid waste for the next 20 years.
The meeting will take place at the Cutten Fields country club starting at 5 p.m. and winding down at 8 p.m. Question, if you are going to hold a meeting to minimize opposition to your plan, why not do it during the dinner hour at a posh country club?
It is important for people to show up for this event and express their concerns. It’s an opportunity for the people to respond to a proposal that accomplishes little except perpetuate the legacy of those who initiated it.
To begin with, proposing such a preposterous plan that affects waste management for 20 years is an affront to the taxpayers of Guelph. The current Solid Waste Management Master Plan (SWMMP) created in 2008 by the Farbridge administration has been unmasked as an abject failure.
Now they want to inflict their ideas of solid waste management on Guelph for the next 20 years on the grounds that the current plan has been so successful.
It’s time they start telling the truth about the costs associated with spending more than $50 million of an overbuilt and under-utilized compost facility and imposing a plastic bin waste collection system in which 6,400 households in the city cannot use it but must still pay for it through their taxes.
Yes, it’s time for the city to come clean, if you’ll pardon the expression, and reveal the costs of its first SWAMP effort before imposing a 20-year plan based on failure of the first. Accordingly, the more folks who turn up September 12 and make their voices heard, the better chance citizens have of stuffing this deal before it gets traction.
GrassRoots Guelph urges all citizens to make the effort to demonstrate that they’re not pushovers when it comes to making their feelings known.
It might be wise to bring a sandwich as it is the supper hour and the availability of food is unknown.
We’ll see you there!
Note: If you are interested in learning more about how your city operates, sign up for membership in GrassRoots Guelph and join the crusade for change. Send your Name, Address, email address and telephone numbers to: grassrootsguelph2014@gmail.com. It will be forwarded to the GRG membership team and kept in a secure database. You will receive regular member’s notices and the GRG NOW newsletter.
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