Don't Call Me, I Won't Call You

Given the lack of blogs it may feel like I've alreadybeen gone for a monthbut in reality I'm just off now for April. I don't think I've ever had a more overwhelming month -- we are most certainly living in crazy times.

The final great news before I go: the Ontario Citizen's Assembly has firmly rejected STV as an option for their referendum. Doris Anderson would be so pleased. A bientot...

Comments

[Crawford Kilian]

Hey, Andrea--

April was a long time ago. What have you been doing since then?

Cheers,
Crawford

[Skot Nelson]

Hi Andrea:

You're the only person at the Greens that I know how to contact =20
directly, and the only person I've met in political life in Vancouver =20=

who I've found to be both intelligent and of personal integrity. (I =20
told a friend so earlier today if you need to verify that :D. She's a =20=

teacher, and you actually know her apparently through school.)

I'm disgusted by the decision to approve sending our garbage to =20
Washington State. They did this in Toronto before I left, and I was =20
pretty happy to leave such a ridiculous situation.

Are there plans to make this an issue? If not at the municipal level, =20=

then at least at the provincial level?

It's probably obvious to you, but letting Municipalities shuffle their =20=

garbage out across borders (municipal, provincial, national) is just =20
patently ridiculous. As long as homeowners can just ignore the size of =20=

the trash problem they create, it's pretty obvious that we're never =20
going to reduce the amount of trash that gets produced.

I don't think the answer is a pure pay-per-bag disposal system. There =20=

should be a limit to the amount of "free" disposal that comes with =20
property taxes, but that limit shouldn't be 0. (Of course, the =20
automated "bin" system Vancouver's implemented makes it impractical to =20=

impose such a limit, unless the limit is 1 bin.)

It seems to me there should be a limit on the distance trash can be =20
transported: ideally, municipalities would be required to dispose of =20
trash within their own boundaries. This may not be practical for a =20
high density urban location but there's undoubtedly brighter minds =20
than I who could figure out how to make it work. Failing that, some =20
sort of geographic limit: trucking trash 342km to Cache Creek is =20
equally silly.

Just a rant. I hope something gets done to raise people's =20
consciousness about this. I think the Green's are the only people we =20
can count on to do so.

I hope you're well. I was disappointed when you lost last municipal =20
election: a big loss.