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All the Garbage
Waste Management has a lucrative contract with the City. Homeowners just received this notice of the annual rate increase. Part of your money financed Waste Management's $1,000 contribution to councilmember Quan's failed Measure N campaign last year proposing a $100 million palace library downtown. Does Waste Management have a compelling interest in a library building? When businesses like WMX that hold City contracts can contribute to ballot measures for increased taxes, the result is blatant corruption.
Meanwhile, complaints are rampant about Waste Management employees who leave bins in driveways, on sidewalks, and in the street where they block street sweepers. Councilmember Quan would have to weigh the campaign contribution against any steps to get contract performance from Waste Management.
– June 15, 2007
Lockout Leaves Quan in Compromised Position
On July 2, 2007, Waste Management locked out 500 workers who had not even taken a strike vote. WMX hired 200 scabs, left customers in confusion for several days, then said it will not pick up recyclable or green waste, and ordinary garbage will be picked up only once every two weeks instead of weekly. Later, the company said pickups would be weekly as normal, but confirming field reports are not available yet.
On July 9, a truck driven by a replacement crew caused a quarter-acre grass fire near Bishop O'Dowd High School. Oakland Fire Captain Cedric Price said the fire began when the truck brought an electrical line down.
Councilmember Quan is compromised not only by accepting a political contribution from a business with a City contract, but also by her previous campaign to push through an increase in the Landscape and Lighting Assessment. Her office had City employees print a campaign flyer for the tax increase and got it inserted in the January 2006 Waste Management mailing of bills to customers. This was an illegal use of City funds, not even brought to city council.
However, Quan got a $5,000 contribution for her Measure N from another trash firm, California Waste Solutions. C.W.S. currently empties the gray recyclable bins in part of Oakland. Quan might try to use the WMX lockout affair to reward C.W.S. with a bigger contract.
As a comment posted on the Oakland Tribune website put it: "Just goes to show how much respect Waste Management has for Oakland and its leaders who have all given this corporate bloodsucker, worker exploiter, and citzen abuser fat fees for umpteen years every time they have come to the City Council table. Well, now is the time for all those who took their fat campaign contributions to ask for something back for the citizens, not for their personal campaigns for higher office. I guess I'm confused, that's really the reason why they run for office."
– July 6, 2007; updated July 18
WMX Gives Resident Credit
A resident who missed service on July 5 faxed details to Waste Management at (510) 562-2854. She provided her email address and received this email reply on July 10:
I just wanted to let you know that I have already placed a credit on your account for two weeks of service in the amount of $9.96. We apologize for the inconvenience and are confident that your trash service will be completed on your regular weekly day.
Thank you,
Karen Brown
Customer Service Manager
Waste Management of Alameda County
Ms. Brown's email address is kbrown2@wm.com. Update: Waste Management has closed this email address.
On July 17 the Oakland city attorney issued a report announcing: "Customers should prorate their bills [for service not received]. The City will not enforce liens for non-payment unless and until WMAC demonstrates that a particular customer has not paid for services that he/she received."
– July 10, 2007; updated July 19
Dellums says has no power; City contract says he has
As the garbage lockout moves toward a public health crisis, mayor Dellums announced that he "does not have the power."
Hear his words. Click here.
Contrary to Dellums' claim, the mayor and city council have extraordinary power. On July 17 the city attorney released a report on the contract between the City and Waste Management. The agreement spells out remedies that are available when Waste Management fails to collect the trash.
Dellums whined, "We do not have the trucks. We do not have the drivers" – but one remedy in the agreement is to take over operations. The City can commandeer WMX's trucks and other equipment. The City can engage WMX workers, use City workers, hire temporary employees, engage another contractor, or any combination of these measures.
A mere threat of takeover might have given WMX pause before it locked out its workers.
The City can also terminate the contract immediately when WMX does not respond to a demand for service within five days.
Next year the mayor will call on Oakland homeowners to give him more money by voting to increase the Landscape and Lighting Assessment, even though much of the money will be used for anything except maintaining parks, trimming trees, and running street lights. Why should we fall for a bait-and-switch from someone who failed to ensure trash collection, someone who ignores the City's police staffing crisis?
– July 15, 2007; updated July 18
Get Politics Out of Garbage Contracts
Oakland city officials now talk about changing from Waste Management to another trash collector. Let's clean up some politics, too.
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Cancel JUL-AUG-SEP bill!
Oakland City officials should demand, on behalf of all residents, that Waste Management cancel your entire bill for July, August, and September.
Waste Management's lockout not only deprived huge numbers of customers of regular service for weeks on end. It also made everyone bear the stench, the flies, the blight of rotting garbage. We had to leave overflowing bins by the curb all the time because we never knew when a truck might come by.
Early reports, however, suggest City officials will give Waste Management an easy time. The Oakland Tribune website reported, "Oakland officials announced today they will withdraw those requests (for an injunction and contempt-of-court penalties), but will retain their right to seek costs and expenses incurred during the lockout." (July 27, 2007) The expenses would be court costs, for example. City Hall is not even thinking about punitive damages for more than three weeks of public stink.
Punitive damages above and beyond credit for missed pickups are appropriate, customary, and necessary. Otherwise, Waste Management learns that it can create a public nuisance and a public health risk at minimal cost to its corporate treasury.
– July 27, 2007
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Last year when the city council conducted a vote among property owners on increasing the so-called Landscape and Lighting Assessment (LLAD) tax, councilmember Jean Quan had City staff produce a propaganda brochure, and she got Waste Management to insert it into 95,000 garbage bills. Quan spent more than $11,000 of City funds on this campaign to raise a regressive parcel tax.
When city officials send out propaganda for a bait-and-switch tax increase, include a statement from opponents, too. Isn't that elementary democracy?
In addition to raiding the City treasury for the LLAD campaign, Quan took $1,000 from Waste Management when she ran her campaign for Measure N last year. At the same time, she received $5,000 from another trash firm, California Waste Solutions (CWS). No wonder Quan at a July 18 neighborhood meeting mentioned the possibility of giving CWS all garbage collection north of Lincoln Blvd. Instead, Quan should recuse herself from council decisions on trash collection.
Now is the time to get politics out of the garbage contract.
– July 23, 2007
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