League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Francisco County, CA June 5, 2012 Election
	Proposition A Garbage Collection and Disposal City and County of San Francisco initiative petition - Majority Approval Required Fail: 32697 / 23.43% Yes votes ...... 106848 / 76.57% No votes See Also: Index of all Propositions

Arguments For Proposition A

Arguments Against Proposition A

Vote YES on Prop A! Proposition A is not about Recology, it's about competitive bidding: how City Hall does business. This measure addresses a number of issues found in two City-commissioned studies in 2011: We pay too much for our garbage and recycling services. Our residential rates have gone up 136% in the last 11 years! San Jose pays less than half of what we do for the same services + with more people and a much larger land area. (San Jose has competitive bidding after catching Recology in a bribery scandal with their mayor in 2006.) We don't even have a contract for garbage and recycling services. We are the only Bay Area city that doesn't have a franchise agreement or competitive bidding for such services. Commercial rates are completely unregulated. The city does not receive a franchise fee for garbage services, leaving a huge hole in our city budget. Oakland gets $24 million each year to support city services and city jobs, from an $80 million contract. San Franciscans pay $220 million in services, and we get nothing as a franchise fee. That means city services get cut, workers get laid off, taxes and fees are raised + while Recology makes whatever profits they choose! Recology's transfer station sits next door to people's homes. It's in a neighborhood where the average life expectancy is 14 years shorter than on Russian Hill. Proposition A moves the transfer station to vacant public land at the Port, which is better for competitively bid lower rates and safe environmental handling of our refuse. Two 2011 City government-initiated studies recommend considering competitive bidding for garbage and recycling services. This measure does that; it's the only way to break up the garbage monopoly. Vote YES on Prop A! Tony Kelly Quentin L. Kopp Rebuttal to Arguments For The Proponents of Prop A have made a series of false accusations and factual errors in their argument. We urge a NO vote on Prop A. The facts: 1. The current system works. San Francisco was recently named the "Greenest City in North America" while maintaining average or below average rates for garbage service in the Bay Area, according to the official 2011 Local Agency Formation Commission report. 2. Voters created the nonpartisan rate board to set garbage rates and have twice rejected similar misguided attempts to dismantle the system that works so well for us. 3. San Francisco's relationship with Recology built our city's recycling and composting system from the ground up -- we have the highest recycling rate of any major city in North America. 4. Today, Recology provides $31,200,000 in fees and free services. Prop A replaces the existing nonpolitical rate board, creating five separate contracts that the Controller says "would significantly increase the City's costs." 5. Proposition A does not require moving a transfer station to the Port or guarantee lower garbage or recycling fees. 6. San Jose's rates are almost identical to ours--and a judge dismissed the politically motivated charges. We stand behind San Francisco based and employee owned Recology, our garbage and recycling service. Recology is on track to achieving Zero Waste by 2020. Why mess with such a successful system? Vote No on Prop A. Jim Lazarus Vice President, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce* Tim Paulson Executive Director, San Francisco Labor Council* For identification purposes only; author is signing as an individual and not on behalf of an organization.

We are Recology. We live here, we work here, we're the employee-owners of Recology -- the garbage and recycling company that has worked to ensure San Francisco is now the "Greenest City in the Country," according to the International Green City Index. You know us. We collect your garbage, we stand on the recycling lines day in, day out. We built San Francisco's recycling system, so today our city boasts the highest recycling rate in the country. Sometimes it's a dirty job, but we are proud of what we do. That's why we urge you to Vote NO on A. With so many critical issues facing our city, does the way San Francisco collects and recycles garbage need to be changed? Does change really make sense just because some special interests want it? Think about it. Would breaking up San Francisco's garbage and recycling services into 5 different contracts + allowing bids by the largest, least "green" companies in the nation--make any sense? There'd be new city bureaucracy. Which company would you call with a problem? Recology works hard, keeping up with the latest technologies to ensure San Francisco has the best available service and greenest future. We take the mandate to reach Zero Waste by 2020 seriously and so far we've accomplished what many said was impossible. That's why we are proud to tell you our story. Please don't let huge multinational garbage companies that pollute elsewhere end the trust we've built and the success we've achieved together. Mike Sangiacomo, President, 29 years, Forest Hill* Ayanna Banks, Sorter, 12 years, Bayview* Ramiro Hurtado, Mechanic, 32 years, Mission* Thanh Trang, Sorter, 4 years, Sunset* Micah Gibson, Arts Program Coordinator, 3 years, Castro* Ryan McKee, Driver, 9 years, Richmond* Lana Yu, Customer Service, 10 years, Visitacion Valley* http://www.keepSFgreen.com For identification purposes only; author is signing as an individual and not on behalf of an organization. Rebuttal to Arguments Against You've seen the ads. There's only one big company in the Proposition A campaign, and that's Recology. The garbage monopoly is spending millions of dollars -- ratepayer dollars! -- to protect their profits and their privilege to raise our rates as much as they want. They're spending millions because they don't want a contract in San Francisco. Recology won competitively bid contracts in 16 Bay Area cities. They pay franchise fees to those cities. Why can't they do that here? The garbage monopoly is spending millions of dollars to scare you. They claim that five different contracts for garbage services will mean more trucks on the road, but it won't. Three contracts don't involve local trucking at all. So two companies, at most, will be on the streets of San Francisco. Anyone who remembers Norcal and Sunset Scavenger trucks knows that isn't a problem. They claim that competitive bidding will raise your rates with a new bureaucracy. But the old bureaucracy has raised our rates 136% in 11 years! It's obvious that you will never be less protected against rate increases than you are right now. They claim that another company will steal their business. But if Recology is anything like the company in their advertising, they will easily win every competitive bid they seek. Every time you see an ad for Recology, think about what they're really buying with all that money. What are they afraid of? For Zero Waste in City government, Vote Yes on Proposition A. http://www.competitivebiddingsf.com Tony Kelly