TBTD Community Meeting Monday Oct. 11th

Join us at the Community Center, 6:30-8:00pm, on Monday the 11th to learn about the TBTD solid waste initiative.

Solid Waste Management Plan Meeting at Woodmen Hall - Notes

Notes from the Solid Waste Management Plan Meeting at Woodmen Hall on Sept. 30th, 2010: View Notes

July 21st Meeting Cancelled/Postponed & July 20th Meeting Set

To clarify on upcoming meetings:

~ Elizabeth Anderson (in charge of updating the Solid Waste Management Plan) has requested to postpone the community-wide meeting that was scheduled for July 21st. While she has held small, closed focus groups to gather public input, she expressed concern about not being prepared with reports etc for an expansive meeting. The County will have a survey out in the near future, but otherwise, please direct any questions & comments about the Solid Waste Management Plan to Elizabeth directly (elizabetha@sjcpublicworks.org).

~ The County Council has set a meeting for July 20th, 10:30am to 3:00pm, at Woodmen Hall on Lopez. Considering there have been several requests that the Council hold a meeting here, it would be great to have a large turnout of our community attend. Citizen Access time is at the start, and Solid Waste is on the draft (subject to change) agenda for 1:30. Please attend if you can and spread the word.

Survey Results

Approximately 130 surveys were filled out. Much thanks to all of you!! Here are the results. (Note: questions are paraphrased. For complete survey, please go to:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YFLXCB9 )

Lopez dump ownership and operation:
a) County owned & operated - 6.3%
b) County owned but locally controlled - 53.2%
c) Community owned & operated - 40.5%

Is information exchange and broad community involvement important?
a) Yes - 94.6%
b) No - 5.4%

Important Services on Lopez:
a) self-separated recyclables - 85.7%
b) commingled recyclables - 12.6%
c) commercial curbside pickup - 6.7%
d) self-haul garbage disposal - 68%
e) take it or leave it - 93.3%
f) compostable wastes - 32.8%
g) food waste & yard waste exchange - 33.6%
h) ongoing hazardous waste drop-off - 81.5%
i) household hazardous waste reuse - 56.3%
j) scrap metals, appliances, & ewaste recycling - 82.4%
k) newsprint, cardboard, & shredded mixed paper for mulch/compost - 68.9%
l) agricultural plastics reuse/recycling - 57.1%
m) construction waste reuse/recycling - 67.2%
n) firewood exchange - 28.6%
o) increased hours - 19.3%
p) improved parking - 53.8%
q) no-charge roadside/beach trash & noxious weeds - 62.2%

Payment Ideas:
a) gate fee - 14.9%
b) higher charge for more garbage, lower charge for less - 71.1%
c) charge for roadside/beach trash & noxious weeds - 3.5%
d) charge for recycling - 8.8%
e) property tax or bond levy - 47.4%
f) monthly use fee for residential patrons - 16.7%
g) none of the above - 13.2%

Comments:
NOTE: Fewer than half of the surveys included comments. Those that did illustrated the wide range of opinions of those who completed the survey. There were, however, some consistent points. Those are noted here.

a) Recycling - 45 comments. These ranged from direct requests to return to self-separated recycling to questions about commingled to frustration about the change without public input.

b) Support of Neil - 32 comments. These expressed respect for Neil's decisions, request for the County to heed his suggestions/proposals, and demand that he be reinstated to full-time FTE.

c) Transparency from County on costs/budget - 25 comments. These mainly requested that the County make readily available the expenses & revenue for the Lopez dump separate from the County-wide budget.

d) Support for Take It Or Leave It - 20 comments. These focused on further County support for TIOLI, though some comments requested a policy to end/limit re-sale of items (no ebay etc sale of TIOLI items).

e) Restore/Improve Parking - 16 comments. These expressed concern about the danger of street-parking and asked for better on-site parking.

Surveys, Meetings, & Letters

Thank you to all who filled out the survey - over 120 responses! TBTD's small group is still researching finances and operation/facility, but we are close to drafting an initiative. Look for a post here as to the time and place of a community meeting to present the initiative. As always, this will be just one idea among many. And we encourage you to voice your ideas to the County.

Along those lines, check out the documents/info page for various Lopezian's letters sent to the County Council. If you've written a letter and would like it posted here, please email us at takebackthedump@gmail.com.

Another way that Lopezians are learning about and expressing their opinions on the future of the Lopez dump is through meetings with Elizabeth Anderson from SJC Public Works. Elizabeth has the immense task of revising the County's Solid Waste Management Plan, and she has been meeting with small groups on Lopez to hear people's ideas. The Lopez Village Planning Review Committee will meet with Elizabeth tomorrow (thursday, 4:00 at the library) to discuss the UGA (urban growth area) and traffic flow and use patterns in regards to the dump. While this meeting is open to the public, it is NOT a forum for discussion of the dump's services or management policy. If you know of other meetings that you would like noted on this blog, please email us.

TBTD Community Survey

Please take the time to fill out a short survey on the possible future of the Lopez dump.
Click here to take survey

We will also have a table set up outside of Lopez Village Market on May 22nd & 29th to distribute the survey.

Whatever initiative or proposal that TBTD comes up with will be strengthened by having more community input. As always, we encourage you to contact the County Council directly with your thoughts and/or questions. And for anyone who has specific ideas that could be put into a mini or full initiative, we encourage you to pursue that. The more voices and ideas heard by the County, the better!

Update

There are links under documents/info to 2 recent articles from The Island Guardian.

TBTD is working on a community survey to gather your input on what you would like to see happen around the Lopez dump. Please stay tuned for a post as to where and when the survey will be available.