Photo/Dennis Myers
The side of this Waste Management Inc. trash compacter in downtown Sparks is used to educate Reno residents on their their upcoming bin choices.
Dueling statistics
complicated rules. Another customer, who contacted the RN&R by phone, said she has used Rubbermaid containers she purchased at Lowe’s in order to avoid paying the corporation.
The libertarian Cato Institute has issued a report claiming that Nevada ranks 15th among states in the value of all welfare benefits available to family of a single parent with two children. Such a family would be eligible for cumulative benefits worth $31,409 a year, if that parent availed her family of all available benefits. The institute also said that such recipients would earn more than the state’s minimum wage. But the Reno Gazette-Journal used census figures to show the state has the lowest welfare payment levels in the nation, and critics of the Cato report said no family is likely to use all available benefits, or even to know about all of them. One mother who previously drew welfare for her family told us payment levels are so low that people are often trapped in dependence, and that she got off welfare only because she received a small inheritance.
Off the city’s radar
Gotta get that CD As part of its back-to-school stuff, the University of Nevada, Reno publicity office issued a release saying that arriving first-term students would “continue the tradition of singing the alma mater and reciting the Nevada Oath during a candlelight ceremony” at Lawlor Events Center. We never knew there was a UNR alma mater, so we asked for the lyrics. Here they are: Where the Truckee’s snow-fed waters drop from mountains crest, And the meadows meet the sagebrush, by the sun caressed, Cradled by the silver mountains ’neath the Western blue, Stands our noble Alma Mater, our Nevada U. As the miner, on the desert, prospects every place, So Nevada seeks the future with an upturned face. Ev’rywhere she gathers knowledge, all that’s good and true, Gives she to her sons and daughters of Nevada U. We will every live to serve her, live to give our best, Live to make our Alma Mater pride of all the West. Let her praises wake the echoes, while we pledge anew, Hearts and minds and hands and voices to Nevada U. The sheet music reads that the air to which these lyrics are sung is the Cornell college song. At the same time that they sang this anthem, the students were expected to take the “Nevada Oath.” It’s 178 words long, so we’ll spare you the entire thing. (The U.S. presidential oath, minus the name, is 35 words long.) But here’s a taste of it: “I will honor, challenge and contribute to the scholarly heritage left by those who preceded me and work to leave this university a better place for those to follow, academically, humanely, and globally. I will account for myself responsibly by keeping a flexible and open mind, utilizing critical skills and fairness for problem solving and leadership.” To read the whole thing, see http://tinyurl.com/n9gg4lf. Students are not expelled if they fail to take the oath. Campus spokesperson Nicole Sherer said, “It’s not something that’s formally monitored. Students take the oath at the opening ceremony, and it is a great way for them to honor the commitment they’ve made by becoming a University of Nevada, Reno, student.”
Tahoe Pyramid Link scrutiny on The Army Corps of Engineers will be accepting public comments on the proposed southeast connector project, also known as the Tahoe Pyramid Link. Information can be obtained at http:// tinyurl.com/q8txup2. Don’t waste time—the deadline is Sept. 23.
—Dennis Myers
8 | RN&R |
SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
Issues with trash Two monopolies for the price of one Local residents will not be able to buy their own trash bins under the agreement negotiated by the city of by Reno with Waste Management Inc. Dennis Myers (WMI). How much that will cost customers is unclear. When the RN&R ran a cover story on a new trash collection system that is now coming on line, a reader posted a comment after the story that read in part, “[A]fter reading this article I get
“We did not include [bin ownership] as an option in the current changes.” Jason Geddes reno environmental services administrator the gist that everyone is going to have to pay for green bins. Currently, I own my own trash cans because rent on WMI’s trash cans is not cheap. With this trash change, I’m going be forced to rent their waste/recycling cans? Does anyone know this answer for sure?” The new system negotiated by the city is now being phased in, and everyone is supposed
to be in it by January. The new system is less informal, with more services spelled out and limited, and customers must choose among four levels of service that involve different bin sizes. WMI’s Reno office apparently does not have any local spokespeople. Calls to that office were returned by WMI publicist Karen Stern in Oakland. She said, “That is not a part of the contract. They have to use the Waste Management bin” by January. When the large green bins with hinged tops first came to Reno, it prompted a strong consumer reaction against Reno Disposal, then the local system. Protests were organized by a local chapter of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) against what were called the “Big Green Monsters” (BGM). It may come as a surprised to residents to know that they have never been required to used BGMs under the current, outgoing system—though the corporation didn’t go out of its way to inform residents of that. Customers can put out neatly tied trash bags once a week if they choose and will still get pick-up service, Stern said. But that will end in January. After that, customers must use bins and will have only a limited number of bag pick-ups under much more
Stern said she could not tell how much the monthly or quarterly rental for the WMI will be devoted to bin rent, because there will be a monthly fee, and she does not have a breakout for the various expenses covered by that fee. So it is difficult to know how quickly a customer’s investment would be paid off if she bought a bin instead of using WMI’s. Outlets like Lowe’s and Home Depot sell hinged-top plastic trash bins for prices ranging from about $60 to more than $100. From the corporation’s point of view, the reason for the use only of WMI bins is “to work with our equipment and make sure that every thing works with our system.” But what was the reason from the city’s point of view? With the city giving Waste Management a monopoly on trash collection, should it have also given it a monopoly on trash bins? In fact, the city apparently never raised the issue with WMI. According to city environmental services administrator Jason Geddes, “We did not include that as an option in the current changes.” Andrew Barbano is a longtime critic of the city’s franchise activities and agreements and editor of NevadaLabor.com, “Waste Management has substantially cut costs, having gone to one-man trucks save for some narrow-alleyed older areas of Reno and Sparks,” he said. “This is the reason for demanding that governments require standard Dumpsters. It cuts their payroll in half. ... The recycling Dumpster add-on appears to be a surcharge that will never die. Long after the Dumpsters are paid off, WMI will still be charging rent with no accountability or transparency. But they will be paying an ever-increasing kickback to the cities and county unless some public servant steps in to regulate an out-of-control public service.”