PROP A

On June 5th, 2012, San Franciscans are asked to vote on the garbage bill.  Prop A is legislation that seeks to modify the ordinance from 1932 that gives the company now known as Recology (formerly Sunset Scavenger) the ability to take care of all the waste streams that have since formed.  Recology feels this Proposition will only deter from the incredible work they have already done and potentially invite companies who don’t really care about SF  to rake our waste goals over the proverbial fire.  Prop A proponents say competitive bidding will not get in the way of Recology’s work, because they can still win four out the five separate contracts.

SORTING THE POINTS

Last week, the HANC membership meeting invited representatives from both sides of the issue to present their cases and take questions from the community.  In attendance were Tony Kelly and Paul Zusky defending each side of PROP A.  Also present were several notable community members including David Pilpel, who summarizes the talk well at the end of our video today.  Some of the points brought up by the community were as follows. Is Recology against competitive bidding?  Who controls the trash rates in our city?  What is going to happen with the Yuba City Landfill?  Is it better to change the system through Prop A or leave things well enough alone?

THE DEBATE

As someone who saw the meeting as well as recorded it, I found this a major challenge to distill it into a short, slick video.  So, I worked through the material the best I could and gave each speaker equal time to present their points on screen as well as included issues that were raised multiple times and seemed inherently relevant to the content of PROP A.  The community comments, questions and elaborations were also added to show that this was a discussion, not just a political pitch.  The best part of this night was the fact that a real conversation on the state of our trash and our goals was had and many varying points of view were welcomed and addressed by Tom Kelly and Paul Zusky.  It was a clear indication that no matter where you fall on PROP A, we have much to sort through on the subject of trash in San Francisco.  This complicated part of our existence is in a major state of change and to better our future, we all need to get involved.

Take a gander at the video which includes comments from Tony Kelly, Paul Zusky and David Pilpel.