Ridiculous

This is absolutely ridiculous. How much money is this going to end up costing the town? First this referendum and now we are probably going to get sued by Trash Away. It's all because the senior citizens of this town don't want anything to change. They were out in droves at the polls yesterday. I'm not sure of all the details that led to the initial decision to change collection service but I sure wish Paul Argazzi & Co. spoke up before we signed the deal. I'll look forward to my taxes going up again. Idiots!!

I really think that the

I really think that the choice to stay with the same service was ridiculous. Other towns that I have lived in had the automated trash pickup and it was fabulous. Overall it was cleaner and easier to manage one large robust container rather than three flimsy off the shelf containers. I have problems with raccoons and other neighborhood animals knocking over my cans and spreading the trash about, with the new cans the animals would not be able to get into the solid can provided by the "contracted company". Overall, had any of the YES voters done any investigation into the cost of trash collection, they would have discovered that the new service would have been cheaper for the town. Being one of the seemingly few citizens to actually investigate the differences in cost, convenience, and environmental impact of the switch, I am saddened by the outcome of this vote. Some of the people that I encountered at the polling station even though it was posted on small signs in random places didn't even know that voting YES meant that they would voting for keeping the old service. Five people in particular, until I showed them the sign, thought that a vote for YES meant they were moving forward with what has already been decided by the elected officials that govern our great town. I think the voting sheet which only had a bubble for YES and a bubble for NO with any explanation of what each was for is ridiculous. This vote was engineered to tally uneducated votes to the yes side. I am very unimpressed by the way this whole thing was handled.

By the way, who is going to

By the way, who is going to pick up our trash after July 4? Not Trashaway.

I, too, am in favor of the

I, too, am in favor of the automated system. I have lived in other towns that have it, and it is truly an easy system to use. BTW, theses towns never had a referendum on the issue and, also, had residents pay for their own containers. I paid $90 for a container in Newington and I only lived there for a year! Going forward, my concern is that trying to unwind this Trash Away contract is going to cost the town a lot of $$$ that it doesn't have. I operate a small business and appreciate the importance of signed contracts. They're used to protect both parties in a transaction. They're there so that one party cannot back out of deal at the eleventh hour after another party has already shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in preparation of providing their services on the date stated in that contract. I'm not sure that people who voted "Yes" understand that getting out of this contract may cost the Town / taxpayers $1 million+. Trash Away has already purchased the containers at a cost of $400,000+ (BTW, I got mine delivered this morning) and issued bonds to cover the equipment purchases. Each truck costs around $225,000. As a small business owner, I believe Trash Away is entitled to be compensated for their incurred costs. However, as a Berlin resident, I would rather see the Town honor the automated trash contract and spend that $1M on schools and other town services.

Is Mr. Argazzi going to

Is Mr. Argazzi going to donate his legal services to clean up this mess?

Dewey Defeats Truman

I just noticed that this article was posted by Olivia L. Lawrence at - 7:26pm on June 23, 2009. What time did the polls close?

1964 yes votes + 1716 no

1964 yes votes + 1716 no votes = 3680 votes
voting time published was 2 hours, 120 minutes. or 30.6 votes per minute.
I was there for 6 minutes and saw 4 people vote - so 240 more votes need to be spread out over 116 minutes I was not there added to the 30 above.
So the average approx voting was a steady stream of 32 votes per minute for a 2 hour run.

Trash vote

Uneducated ones let the town make decisions that affect everybody without their approval.
Think about the people that have long driveways and usually drive the trash down. Or the ones that sometimes have more trash that can fit in one can and would now have to hold the extra for a week. Or how about the jobs that go bye-bye. Or people that pick things out of the trash and use them which keeps it out of the landfills. I could continue but I guess I’m one of those "Uneducated" ones, or maybe I’m just not corrupt.

PS- You can buy trash cans that keep animals out without going to this new service.

I agree with the idea of the

I agree with the idea of the new trash service, however, I live in Kensington, specifically in the area where there is a lot of long driveways. My driveway in particular is very long, and is gravel. The present trash service, I can lift the trash cans into my car and easily drive it to the bottom. There is no way possible for me to life the new 95 gallon trash can into my car, and I doubt that it would even fit, when my driveway freezes into a mixture of snow and ice, there would be no possible way for me to drag that 95 gallon trash can down my driveway. If the town is willing to pay thousands for a new football field, they could at least pay more to keep our old service and keep me from slipping and falling during the winter.

The question read:“Shall

The question read:
“Shall Ordinance No. 5-99, adopted March 30, 1999, as codified in Sections 46-31 through 46-73 of the Berlin Municipal Code, concern­ing the collection of Solid Waste including Recycling be amended?” YES/NO

The Town voted to amend it (it was close but the majority did vote Yes).

However, this doesn't necessarily mean we can't use automatic trash collection does it?

Why don't we simply treat this situation like we do for large items: a special pickup that the individual is charged for? Can't we ask Trash Away if they would be open to that kind of an amendment or something similar?

I honestly doubt we're going to find anyone to bid purely for manual service and have it save us money (if we even find anyone to bid on it at all).

Why did God give you legs and

Why did God give you legs and feet, if not to walk then what?