Dear Editor
Our garbage is scheduled for pick up every second Wednesday morning and I put the bin at the curb Tuesday evening. Sept. 3 the bin was not emptied. I assumed that the collectors were a bit behind their usual schedule due to the long weekend and I thought nothing of it and left the bin on the street.
Thursday morning my neighbour from next door knocked on my door and offered to take my garbage to the landfill. I asked why and was informed that my neighbour's trash also had not been picked up. They had called the City to ask why this was and that they were informed it was because the container was "too full." My neighbours were further informed that the bin could be emptied that day, but they would be charged $20 for this "service."
With our taxes going steadily up and our services from the City dwindling, it should come as no surprise to be treated, as citizens and taxpayers, seemingly like the garbage in question. I am dismayed that after our garbage pick-up schedule was moved from weekly to every other week the city would not reasonably expect bins to be "too full" from time to time, but to refuse to pick them up for that reason, and to have the audacity to charge extra for the "service' is an insult.
I will also add that I was chatting with a friend from Penticton, B.C. yesterday who is a former resident of North Battleford and he commented on how dismayed he was at the amount of trash lying around the streets of our city. I have resided in this city for "only" 22 years and I would often state with pride about how clean the city was. Now, not so much.
Is the City so cash-strapped that they must stoop to charging more for an already diminished service than the already exorbitant rate? It is at once sad and disturbing.
Fred Eliasson
North Battleford
