Key West Recycles...Gardi's Three Year Old Observation

Working At the Speed (and Expense) of Government

Key West Wastes $379,000, and 3 1/2 Years to Address the Obvious
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi -  August 30, 2012

Folks, I'm not really an "I told you so" type of guy. ;)  OK, OK, yes, I am and this one takes the cake.  Our esteemed daily, the Citizen is heaping accolades upon the Key West City Commission today for their epiphany about recycling.  (See Here)  Give me a break.

Three and a half years ago I penned a piece on the front page of Key West the Newspaper about this obvious problem.  (See Here) Yes, that was February 13, 2009 within which I stated the following about Waste Management;

...they get paid per ton of trash they haul, and they incur additional costs if they actually collect the recyclable material.  Their incentive is to haul trash, and enjoy a low recycling rate regardless of whatever pretty PR they push…and it all gets back to their contract with the City.

Yeah, read that again and then remember your esteemed City Commission had to blow $379,000 on a consultant to figure out what was obvious for years.  But leave no potential waste unwasted, we now also need to hire an additional salaried employee to be a recycling "coordinator."  Yup, now that's as useful as an old pizza box, but heck, it's tax payer money so who cares, right?

Let's not forget that Key West now plans to raise parking rates, and property taxes because our esteemed Commission can only seem to search for new revenue sources versus finding ways to cut costs.  But what has happened during the three and a half years that they twiddled their thumbs waiting for a consultant to state the obvious...

The City lollygagged and failed to put the Waste contract out to bid. (See Here)
The City held no one accountable for the $6 million FEMA boondoggle. (See Here)
The City had no issue wasting a quarter million on grass. (See Here)
The imaginative City, along with the Chamber of Commerce won't stop till they dig a trench. (See Here)
which we wrote about here...
and ultimately...

The Commission gave themselves a 135% raise. (See Here)

Wake up folks, the majority of the smiling faced jackals we elect are blithering incompetents with nothing but self interests that motivate them.  Hey, but they're nice, and smile a lot, and put up really cool looking political signs...and no one from the media holds them accountable for fear of offending an esteemed member of our community...so they must be really good at leading...or hiring consultants...or something...right?  I mean they went and graduated some leadership Monroe Class or Ambassador thingy...right?  Right?