[greenyes] Insult to injury in Virginia

["Eric Lombardi" <eric@no.address>]

Greetings GreenYessers,

If I read this posting from the online Resource Recycling Magazine
Update correctly, then not only are the people losing their opportunity
to recycle, but they also have to keep paying for a service that is no
longer there.  I think this is an escalation of the trend where the
government purse-holders are increasingly addressing the "budget crisis"
by cutting services to the community of taxpayers while making sure that
their City jobs never go away.  How does that work?  Same staff levels
for reduced public services?  Sorry to sound like a Republican on this
(I must be getting older), but when it comes to positive environmental
and social change I'd rather see the jobs created and protected in the
new sustainable business sectors, like recycling!!  (Last note...at a
17% recycling participation rate, those City staffers should have been
gone long ago!!)

"Virginia city stops service"

Curbside recycling collection has ended in Portsmouth, Virginia.

The city abandoned the program for several reasons, one of which being 
that only 17 percent of residents were taking part.  Faced with a budget

crunch, the city looked for services it could cut.  Although residents 
paid $1.05 per month for recycling, the city has decided to continue
charging 
the fee as part of a $19 per month waste management charge."


Eric

Eric Lombardi
Executive Director
Eco-Cycle, Inc
Boulder, CO
303-444-6634
www.ecocycle.org