The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are the city council of Plantation Florida. They are Dr. Robert Levy, Rico Petrocelli, Sharon Moody Uria, Diane Veltri Bendekovic and Jerry Fadgen. They get the award for the following.

PLANTATION -- To combat the proliferation of residents who refuse to pay for blue garbage bags and instead dump their trash at work or illegally on city streets, the city is now going to charge more than $7 a month for trash pick-up.

At a special City Council meeting Tuesday night, the city tentatively agreed to impose Waste Management fees in an effort to compel residents to buy the mandatory blue trash bags.

Residents will now have to pay a new $6.25 monthly bill for garbage fees, plus an additional $1 a month for recycling fees.

Until now, residents paid no monthly fee, but have purchased blue garbage bags at $2.29 each. City officials say many avoid the cost by illegally dumping their garbage or disposing of it at work. But they still benefit from the city's garbage service by recycling or using bulk pickup.

Waste Management spokesman attorney C. William Laystrom complained to the Council on Tuesday: "Our costs are escalating like everybody else's. We're losing money every month."

Officials figure the way to recoup losses from the blue bag sales is to force everyone to pay something for the garbage service.

"I don't know of any fairer way of doing it," said Councilman Bob Levy. "Let them be forced to pay $6.25."

The city is also cutting the cost of the blue bags, available at Supermarkets in Plantation, to $1.59, easing the burden on those who have been complying with the service.

Of the 18 cities in Broward that have contracts with Waste Management, Plantation is the only one that requires residents use the blue bags, which are stamped with the city's seal.

"Even if people don't use the blue bags, they should be forced to pay their fair share," Levy said. "If we continue the system, the people not using the bags get off scot-free. The only way we can figure out how to make it fair and equitable is to charge $6.25… so you don't have to subsidize the people skirting the law."

Residents at the Council meeting said many don't like the blue bags. One resident called them a "glorified rodent lunch."

"That bag is a nightmare," complained resident Armando Castells. He said residents obviously don't want to pay money for the bags if they take their trash with them to work. He said the solution is simple: Let them buy garbage cans and use their own bags like every other city.

Why anyone should pay $2.29 a bag is beyond me.(The city has to have some kind of deal with the manufacturer of the bags which makes one wonder what the relationship between council members and the bagmake is. Hmm......) As the article states, no other city in Broward does it. Then to tax people who dispose of their garbage on their own, this is the type of moronic thinking seen far too often from elected officials in Florida.

For being human pieces of garbage to the people of the city they are supposed to govern, Dr. Robert Levy, Rico Petrocelli, Sharon Moody Uria, Diane Veltri Bendekovic and Jerry Fadgen aka The Plantation Florida City Council are today's Knuckleheads of the Day.

Alex at SOTP doesn't think much of this Plantation's proposal either.
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