So it is okay for every other town on the peninsula to have their garbage cans on the street with the exception of the oh so special residents of Atherton? Listen to what you are saying. You sound like spoiled brats. Sadly this is I am sure how you live your lives. Entitled to what other are not. Get over it. Although I do feel the rate hike is excessive.

Everyone needs to understand that even the proposed rates will NOT cover the Town's obligation to pay Recology its actual costs plus a profit. We can kick the (garbage) can down the road but eventually these costs will have to be paid.

The Town has a non-revocable 10 year contract which guarantees Recoloy its costs plus a profit. If Recology receive less revenues from fees than the amount due then the Town must make up the difference - this is called 'topping up'. In the past the Town has increased future fees to pay any 'topping up' charges so either we pay now or we pay later.

The current fees drastically underprice the cost of compost and recycling and give us all the option of actually lowering our bills by going to a much smaller garbage can - I have gone from a 96 gallon can to 32 gallons and will probably go down to 20. There is NO way that my $29 monthly fee for 1 small garbage, two 64 gallon recycling and three 96 gallon compost containers covers the cost of servicing those containers.

We have both a horrible contract (which cannot be changed) and a deceptively low rate schedule (which will, sooner or later, need to be changed).

Just as there is no free lunch there is no free garbage collection.

How did people like Jerry Carlson and Jim Dobbie run for reelection after they mismanaged the town so badly, including hiring a terrible city manager like Jerry Gruber who signed this travesty of a contract. They should both step down in disgrace. We need some younger more assertive people who can drive hard bargains for the taxpayers of this town. How can they fix this when they got us into it? And when John Johns had a $500,000 surplus with Allied Waste these two clowns let Allied bonus themselves out that money and turn it into a deficit? You've got to be kidding me!