Thursday, January 8th
Regular Monthly GOP Business Meeting
Hosted by Gwinnett GOP
Where: Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center
Main Auditorium
75 Langley Drive
Lawrenceville, GA 30045
When: Room opens at 7:00pm, Meeting starts at 7:30pm
Speaker: After the abbreviated business meeting topics of discussion will include the County’s New Garbage Collection Service. Representatives of both sides of this debate are being asked to participate.
Senator Shafer is also hosting a fundraiser that evening in midtown.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
One Atlantic Center
Forty Ninth Floor
1201 West Peachtree Street
Atlanta, Georgia
RSVP to 770-497-0048
rsvp@votedavid.com
{ 22 comments }
Chris – I had no idea you were a republican and in Gwinnett too. Our business is about a mile from the admin center.
Watch out for those mean cops!
umust – he’s neither. But he did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
For the record, the Cobb GOP is meeting in Marietta City Hall at 7PM. I expect there will be no riots.
Looks like the trash nazis are still pushing the old trash plan:
Friends,
Please join me in supporting our Chairman and County Commissioners as they lead our county regarding the Solid Waste and Recycling Plan. We need to encourage them to come to a decision quickly – dragging this issue out for another year is in the best interest of no one.
The new solid waste plan, “A Greener Tomorrow Begins Today,” is more efficient, cost effective, and convenient for homeowners in unincorporated Gwinnett to recycle, resulting in a cleaner and greener environment. With fewer waste trucks on the roads, we’ll experience a reduction in fuel and greenhouse gases, resulting in quieter, safer, and less congested neighborhoods – not to mention less wear and tear on the roads. Residents will receive waste and recycling pick-up from one provider, all on the same day with the convenience of paying the service fee once a year on their tax bill.
The new plan is the result of three years of preparation and input from over 5,000 residents and hundreds of organizations through public hearings, civic, home owners association meetings, community forums, and surveys. Two-thirds of residents indicated they would trade choice of a collection company for the ability to recycle more.
The plan will more than double recycling, from the current 10 percent to at least 23 percent as residents will be able to recycle 35 items. If Gwinnett County were to recycle 23 percent of its solid waste (the current goal), the county would reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to taking 36,533 cars off the road annually. In addition, making new products from recovered materials take less energy – the comparable to the energy used by 14,610 homes a year.
The current average price for garbage and recycling service in Gwinnett is $21 per month. When the program is fully implemented (July 1, 2009), residents will have the convenience of paying $17.86 as a monthly service fee. Click here for a document that compares the old and new plans.
There is a meeting on January 6 at 2 p.m. at GJAC in which the Commission can make the decision to get us back on track. There will also be a press conference at 9:30 a.m. on January 6 at GJAC. I encourage you to attend the press conference and meeting, and to call or email your support of the new plan. Please ask your friends and family to do the same.
In hopes for a cleaner, greener Gwinnett,
Dave McMullen
Resident
Does anyone know how they are handling businesses on this issue? I don’t think they’re pushing recycling for business.
How are they going to recycle 35 items? What are the 35 items? I’m thinking he means 35 materials. Otherwise that 36th beer can is going to get left on the sidewalk. Followed by a nasty tazering incident.
Counterpoint
Debbie, you shameless slut.
“Wanna be” Monopolies always offer a lower price in order to lure idiots like yourself into their trap. Once established you will be subjected to their will and ability to buy professional politicians to allow them to raise prices and offer less services.
Also, as for recycling, the fact is that other than aluminium and brown cardboard, without subsidies, all other recycling are net losses in everything recycling is suppose to cure, although it makes one “feel” good. Even recycling paper and plastic causes more harm than good. But don’t let facts get in the way of your agenda.
Dan, I very strongly opposed the proposed trash plan where your choice was taken away in the choice of your trash providers. I opposed the mandatory recycling fine. When I said trash nazis supporting the old plan, I was referring to those that supported Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful’s plan that was thrown out in court. A new plan has to be formulated now.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=54769
LAWRENCEVILLE – The Board of Commissioners and Gwinnett County took its first step toward revising its solid waste ordinance Tuesday by officially terminating its contract with Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful Services.
According to the county’s communications director Joe Sorenson, the move was necessary in order to meet the requirements of the court order issued last month which kept the old plan operating when 2009 arrived.
“The county’s number one priority is making sure residents garbage and recycling gets picked up,” Sorenson said. “But what this move does is allow the county to figure out how we can unwind from our action to let Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful administer trash pickup. Starting tomorrow and over the next 120 days, we’ll be looking at what we need to do. And we have to figure that out because Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful does a lot.”
For the two firms that were awarded the exclusive contracts to service residents in unincorporated Gwinnett – Advanced Disposal Services and Waste Pro – they’d both like to see the county take action on settling this matter quickly. To make that point known, representatives from both companies were present at Tuesday’s afternoon public session.
“We’re the good guys in this situation,” said Advanced Disposal’s Chief Marketing Officer Mary O’Brien. “We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars and we’ve got brand new trucks waiting in our yard. We’ve bent over backwards to implement this program in a very short window of six weeks,” she said. “You hold the power to fix this problem.”
O’Brien added that Monday Advanced Disposal began collecting the more than 40,000 carts already delivered to what it thought would be its new clients. She added that some of those carts were filled with people’s garbage.
“It’s not our waste and we’re not being paid to collect that waste but we’re still collecting it because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “And that’s what we’ve always done.”
Waste Pro’s Executive Vice President Bob Hyres had similar sentiments.
“We’ve also invested tens of millions of dollars into this process,” Hyres said. “We’ve hired people who might have to be laid off possibly and we’ve got trucks sitting. We’ve ordered 180,000 carts with a custom dye that we can’t return or use. But I applaud you for what you did because it took a lot of courage. It’s one of the best plans I’ve ever seen.”
Hyres then asked the commission to use its means to “get this in place and go forward with the two contractors that you’ve already contracted with and made a huge commitment to.”
Approximately 30 to 40 of Waste Pro’s Gwinnett employees were also present and many spoke to the commission while at the same time advocating the new solid waste plan. They all wore green “Support the plan” stickers. One employee called the present situation on the street “confusing” and asked the commissioners to act quickly to alleviate that confusion.
District 3 Commissioner Mike Beaudreau chimed in after the comments ceased.
“We’re not finished,” he said. “But anyone that says we don’t have a trash problem in Gwinnett County needs to wake up and look out the windows. We have trash everywhere,” he said. “But going back to the old way, in my opinion, is not acceptable. It will not work going forward.”
Beaudreau then invited interested residents who are solution-oriented and would like to help in solving Gwinnett’s trash problem to participate in a citizen’s advisory committee by phoning his office. He finished by saying he’d like to see a solution implemented in Gwinnett as quickly as possible.
In other related news, Sorenson said the call center established to handle customer concerns related to trash has been receiving more than 200 calls per day since it began operating. He also acknowledged residents Monday reported 22 incidents of their trash not picked up. He said in seven of those cases, it appeared that the hauler had missed the collection of trash in the entire community. He said the most common questions or complaints had to do with people not being able to reach Waste Pro due to high call volumes. He said to relieve resident’s frustrations, the call center has been compiling customer issues and contacting the haulers via e-mail to report and request resolutions.
“For residents who have been unsuccessful in reaching the hauler, we take their info and commit that we will forward their request to the hauler and request that they follow-up with the resident,” Sorenson wrote in an e-mail. “And we always thank the callers for their patience during this hectic transition.”
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/main.asp?SectionID=6&SubSectionID=84&ArticleID=54769
We have a dumpster full of cardboard every week but the rycycling companies refuse to pick it up so to the dump it goes.
Dan, I very strongly opposed the proposed trash plan where your choice was taken away in the choice of your trash providers. I opposed the mandatory recycling fine. When I said trash nazis supporting the old plan, I was referring to those that supported Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful’s plan that was thrown out in court. A new plan has to be formulated now.
LAWRENCEVILLE – The Board of Commissioners and Gwinnett County took its first step toward revising its solid waste ordinance Tuesday by officially terminating its contract with Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful Services.
According to the county’s communications director Joe Sorenson, the move was necessary in order to meet the requirements of the court order issued last month which kept the old plan operating when 2009 arrived.
“The county’s number one priority is making sure residents garbage and recycling gets picked up,” Sorenson said. “But what this move does is allow the county to figure out how we can unwind from our action to let Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful administer trash pickup. Starting tomorrow and over the next 120 days, we’ll be looking at what we need to do. And we have to figure that out because Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful does a lot.”
For the two firms that were awarded the exclusive contracts to service residents in unincorporated Gwinnett – Advanced Disposal Services and Waste Pro – they’d both like to see the county take action on settling this matter quickly. To make that point known, representatives from both companies were present at Tuesday’s afternoon public session.
“We’re the good guys in this situation,” said Advanced Disposal’s Chief Marketing Officer Mary O’Brien. “We’ve invested tens of millions of dollars and we’ve got brand new trucks waiting in our yard. We’ve bent over backwards to implement this program in a very short window of six weeks,” she said. “You hold the power to fix this problem.”
O’Brien added that Monday Advanced Disposal began collecting the more than 40,000 carts already delivered to what it thought would be its new clients. She added that some of those carts were filled with people’s garbage.
“It’s not our waste and we’re not being paid to collect that waste but we’re still collecting it because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “And that’s what we’ve always done.”
Waste Pro’s Executive Vice President Bob Hyres had similar sentiments.
“We’ve also invested tens of millions of dollars into this process,” Hyres said. “We’ve hired people who might have to be laid off possibly and we’ve got trucks sitting. We’ve ordered 180,000 carts with a custom dye that we can’t return or use. But I applaud you for what you did because it took a lot of courage. It’s one of the best plans I’ve ever seen.”
Hyres then asked the commission to use its means to “get this in place and go forward with the two contractors that you’ve already contracted with and made a huge commitment to.”
Approximately 30 to 40 of Waste Pro’s Gwinnett employees were also present and many spoke to the commission while at the same time advocating the new solid waste plan. They all wore green “Support the plan” stickers. One employee called the present situation on the street “confusing” and asked the commissioners to act quickly to alleviate that confusion.
District 3 Commissioner Mike Beaudreau chimed in after the comments ceased.
“We’re not finished,” he said. “But anyone that says we don’t have a trash problem in Gwinnett County needs to wake up and look out the windows. We have trash everywhere,” he said. “But going back to the old way, in my opinion, is not acceptable. It will not work going forward.”
Beaudreau then invited interested residents who are solution-oriented and would like to help in solving Gwinnett’s trash problem to participate in a citizen’s advisory committee by phoning his office. He finished by saying he’d like to see a solution implemented in Gwinnett as quickly as possible.
In other related news, Sorenson said the call center established to handle customer concerns related to trash has been receiving more than 200 calls per day since it began operating. He also acknowledged residents Monday reported 22 incidents of their trash not picked up. He said in seven of those cases, it appeared that the hauler had missed the collection of trash in the entire community. He said the most common questions or complaints had to do with people not being able to reach Waste Pro due to high call volumes. He said to relieve resident’s frustrations, the call center has been compiling customer issues and contacting the haulers via e-mail to report and request resolutions.
“For residents who have been unsuccessful in reaching the hauler, we take their info and commit that we will forward their request to the hauler and request that they follow-up with the resident,” Sorenson wrote in an e-mail. “And we always thank the callers for their patience during this hectic transition.”
Daniel
A contract for a specific garbage collection zone for a specific time period with a set price through a competitive bid process would seem to be a win/win. Ultimately, multiple companies in the same neighborhood would bring down efficiencies. Personally I’m glad this is one less thing I have to think about where I live. And if I’m not mistaken, people get rooked with these crazy contracts and fines, ect…
Residents should have a choice in trash provider. The county should not dictate which trash provider the residents choose. The county should not make recycling mandatory.
I have heard it said that it would cut down on the number of garbage trucks that are on the roads in sub divisions. Get real, just how many people do you think are at home during the hours the garbage trucks start picking up trash? Most are at work.
Now, if you have issues with your trash provider, you can change providers. Under Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful’s plan your only option is to complain to the county government. Yea, that really does a lot of good…
I would rather pay more and have a choice. I believe in something called free enterprise….
Central planning = quick fix, but becomes more bloated, bureaucratic and inefficient over time. Government should get out of the business of business. Let individuals vote with their dollars and let garbage collection companies compete for those dollars. Free Market vs. Central Planning; the free market will give you the most cost effective and efficient system in the long run every time.
ps. Sorry Debbie, I guess Dave is the loose idiot I should have directed my comment to…. actual work distracted me from my blog skimming.
NP, Dan. Sometimes I actually let work distract me from blogging as well.
“I would rather pay more and have a choice.”
(I’d rather pay less and be a prisoner of market efficiency. A hostage of the garbage man. A victim of economies of scale. Because I have no other way to express my individuality other than what color garbage can that sits there waiting to get emptied)
Ultimately, multiple companies in the same neighborhood would bring down efficiencies.
What you identified here is an incentive for a collection company or companies to go into a neighborhood and offer a reduced rate if a certain percentage of the residents there switch to their service. This get’s the neighbors talking to find and discover the biggest bang for the buck on what the residents in that neighborhood want in a collection service. Instead of a cookie cutter, one size fits all approach government takes in which nobody gets what they want but is forced to pay for.
I would rather pay more and have a choice.
Another way to say what I think Debbie meant is “I’m willing to pay more to get the service I want.”
Sort of like what you decided to do when you bought your Prius (just a guess).
“This get’s the neighbors talking to find and discover the biggest bang for the buck on what the residents in that neighborhood want in a collection service.”
(Remind me never to come to a cul-de-sac party in your neighborhood)
Remind me never to come to a cul-de-sac party in your neighborhood
No worries. I wouldn’t be caught dead living in a cul-de-sac’ed neighborhood. Not that there is anything wrong with it. Just not for me.
I thought Gwinnett Trash was the name of a new athletic team and they are having a game this Thursday. Maybe a rugby team since they are already predicting riots
“Because I have no other way to express my individuality other than what color garbage can that sits there waiting to get emptied”
Should have read:
“Because I have OTHER WAYS to express my individuality…”
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