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Starting in August, the larger 96 gallon tote will be for recycling and the smaller 64 gallon tote will be for refuse. This topsy turvey plan doesn’t work in even the best recycling communities (25 percent and up). How will it to work in Niagara Falls, which has the lowest recycle rates in the region (4 percent). Where will all the excess garbage go that is being picked up now but won’t after
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On the Niagara Community Forum, a Facebook page run by local activist and newspaper columnist Ken Hamilton, the garbage hauling fiasco created by Mayor Paul Dyster and his city administrator, Donna Owens, seems as though it might be the straw that's broken the camel's back insofar as Dyster's chances of being re-elected to an unprecedented third term are concerned.
As we revealed exclusively last week, Dyster has told family members and close friends that he is mulling over his prospects and, two weeks ago, he raised a reported $7,500 from a small group of sycophants and political social climbers at a fundraising event held at the Red Coach Inn.
But even some of Dyster's strongest supporters are balking in the wake of the mess the administration has created with the new garbage contract.
"I agree this issue is a fiasco," said lifelong Niagara Falls resident and former Dyster supporter Bill Carroll. "From conception and support of the mayor to the unanimous approval by the Council. The failure to consider the small business consequence and the hard headed decisions of the Administration in flipping the tote size."
Carroll was referring to a provision in the contract that calls for the new recycling totes to be 33 percent larger than the totes used for garbage. Niagara Falls will be the only city in America employing such a formula. Other municipalities use the large tote for garbage and the smaller one for recyclables.
But, Carroll added, what's done is done and the time for harsh penalties should accompany the new regulations.
"You can offer incentives to begin modifying behavior but in the best words of B.F. Skinner some point a negative consequence has to be introduced to create a principal or reinforcement," he told the forum. "In other words if a renter doesn't recycle and tries to dispose of more trash then fits in the tote, it won't be picked up. If he tries to dispose of it illegally the Courts and Police have to step in."
Former City Council candidate Herbert Lewis disagreed.
"When this first came out, one of the things we spoke of -- those who were opposed to this -- was the fines. In a city that is as impoverished as Niagara Falls, how does one really expect to collect fines from those who ignore the new program?" Lewis said. "This is just another form of poor planning and implementation; poorly thought out. I guess we really get what we vote for. We really need more transparency with our elected officials. This is just an absolute disgrace that something that is supposed to be beneficial for us is turning into such a fiasco."
"Fiasco" seems to be the operative word here, regardless of the commentator's feelings towards the mayor. Falls resident Howie Ewing summed up the feelings of many;
"Landlords in Niagara falls can't even keep up with the upkeep of their parcels," he wrote. "What makes (Dyster) think they're going to pay their own garbage bill? It's a big joke. In the end the city taxpayers are going to be the ones footing the bill after this mess settles, about 40 percent of property owned downtown are out-of-towners, so what do they care?"
The local media came in for some criticism as well. Editorialists for both local daily newspapers praised the Dyster-Owens garbage plan lavishly, apparently before they'd had a chance to read it.
Longtime community activist Candace Corsaro took exception.
"They rushed into this," she wrote. "We did not have a say in this. They waited until the contract with Modern ran out, grace period for pickup then at last minute went into this agreement without any input from us, the taxpayers. If they did not sign a deal, we would have no pickup."
Dyster, Owens and the administration have been pedaling furiously to extinguish the firestorm they created, holding two public meetings last week alone. City Hall sources told the Reporter over the weekend that the implementation of the new garbage regulations, previously set for August 1, was supposed be postponed and that at least some of the 500 small businesses that were thrown off the collection rolls will be reinstated. But Dyster reversed that last week and has now decided to forge ahead with the flawed garbage plan and its rollout in August.
The garbage fiasco typifies everything that has been wrong with the Dyster administration since he took office in 2008. Poor planning, carried out in secret, and the sprung on both the council and city taxpayers with a "my way or the highway" attitude.
It just doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore. |