MAILBAG - May 31, 2007

Rainbow Disposal is required to sort trash

Correct me if I am wrong, but now we will have three trucks to pick up the same trash that one truck used to pick up. Does this mean three times as much maintenance cost? Three times the number of union drivers to do the pickups?

It is my feeling that Rainbow Disposal is trying to force the residents of Huntington Beach into doing the company’s job. The city did a study a number of years ago that showed the most efficient way to reduce the amount of trash going to landfills is to sort the trash at a centralized point. Rainbow Disposal does just that. The new trash pickup system is just a way to guilt residents into doing a job that will be done anyway.

What most residents don’t realize is that if you do not separate your trash, then Rainbow Disposal will do it for you. They have to. It is Rainbow Disposal that is under contract with the city, and in that contract it states that all state-mandated landfill reductions will be met. If Rainbow Disposal does not meet the state-mandated benchmarks then Huntington Beach will be forced to terminate the contract. I am in favor of an automated pickup system, but the mandatory trash separation by residents is ridiculous. If you are looking for a warm and fuzzy feeling that you are helping the environment, then plant a tree. Just make sure when you trim that tree the waste goes in the correct trash can.

JIM KNAPP

Huntington Beach

Do police investigate suspicious behavior?

I definitely support the Huntington Beach Police Department and its efforts to fight crime, but lately I have been disappointed and frustrated about the department’s lack of investigation/enforcement regarding a residence — and its inhabitants — in my neighborhood.

Your newspaper, on a consistent basis, prints information on when to call police regarding “suspicious behavior” and/or crimes-in-progress, etc.

Well, I have taken that advice, called many times over a period of several years and just lately have offered their COP Unit [via e-mail] information about the goings-on at this particular house.

To date, as far as I’ve seen, officers only respond to our calls and have not been proactive enough to determine if there is illegal activity there or not.

Secondly, I have not received any information or phone call from anyone at the police department stating they will or won’t work on a plan to solve the problem.

Does this information get printed just for show and/or is it used as a space filler maybe because of the lack of cry-baby letters, such as this, aren’t being submitted to your paper?

Seriously, whatever the issue actually is, the neighborhood needs some help, not just with this particular house but with a few other incidences of traffic problems, graffiti/tagging and various violations being committed at Bolsa View Park.

I, along with other neighbors, would like to see officers follow through and work on the “suspicious activity” occurring at this residence.

JASON MAXWELL

Huntington Beach