Citizen survey promoted
Haney resident wants residents surveyed on whether they want municipal garbage pickup
Bob Masse is a Maple Ridge Councillor.
Photograph by: Submitted , TIMES
Maple Ridge resident Todd Oliver wants to "dig deeper" to find out why there is such resistance in Maple Ridge to municipal garbage pickup.
Oliver made a presentation to Maple Ridge council Tuesday about surveying residents about District-wide integrated waste management, for example, surveying people at the upcoming home show about the issue.
While neighbouring municipalities like Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam have municipal garbage pickup, Maple Ridge is a "stand pat" community that won't even consider going in that direction.
"For some reason, it's a really taboo issue at city hall," Oliver said. "I'm trying to cut into it."
Oliver recently spoke to someone who had just moved to Maple Ridge from Vancouver who was wondering why there had been no garbage pickup for three weeks, after which Oliver enlightened him on the lack of service in the District.
"It is just so yesterday," he said, adding that he doesn't believe people will stop recycling if there is integrated municipal garbage pickup, which is often the argument he hears against it. If they are educated on the issue, people will continue to recycle, he said.
Since May, Oliver has been doing research into municipal garbage pickup and he said he'd like to "dig deeper" into the reasons why there is such resistance in Maple Ridge to it.
Oliver would like to sit down with Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin to discuss the issue.
Maple Ridge Councillor Bob Masse said through the course of the 2011 election campaign, the topic of getting municipal garbage pickup came up often, and it was something he wanted the District to look into.
But, whether it's garbage pickup or other concerns residents have, Masse said he'd like to see a better way of surveying the public and finding out what they want.
"I would like us to have a mechanism to bring these questions to the public," Masse said, for example, having garbage pickup or building a new museum.
Technology might be useful to survey people, Masse added.
Whether or not programs like garbage pickup is implemented or not should be based on what residents want.
"I think there should be municipal garbage pickup if people want municipal garbage pickup," he said.
