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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: City’s handling of NRE is reason for outrage

Who would have thought council could assume that allowing for the demise of the NRE was an option?
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Nanaimo city council’s handling of the Nanaimo Recycling Exchange situation is unpardonable, says letter writer. NEWS BULLETIN file

To the editor,

Re: City money spent elsewhere could have gone to NRE, Letters, April 5.

No words are strong enough to communicate the outrage among Nanaimo householders over the cavalier way our city council has washed its hands of the need to respond adequately to the numerous calls from its citizenry for support of the Nanaimo Recycling Exchange; who would have thought this city council could assume that allowing for the demise of the NRE was an option, without offering an adequate alternative for environment-conscious Nanaimo residents to dispose responsibly of non-disintegrating and/or toxic materials, rather than allowing them to be piled up in the landfill or dumped in our natural environment? Who would have thought?

This failure by our city council to act as custodians of our collective future is truly unpardonable, and a sure indication that we, the people of Nanaimo, need to get our act together now – by asking provincial government to draw up new legislation that would enable citizens of B.C. municipalities to file a petition at the provincial level requesting the immediate dismissal of a local municipal council and mayor, on grounds of serious (demonstrable) neglect of duty, after which speedy new elections must be held to replace the entire local government, mayor and city council, all at once.

Afiena A. Kamminga, Nanaimo

To the editor,

Re: City money spent elsewhere could have gone to NRE, Letters, April 5.

There have been recent feverish attempts to work out a wise and fiscally responsible remedy. It seems much thought has gone into these efforts at the highest levels, the results being to talk about it some more, issue proposals and more reports, etc. There has been being thoughtful, well-considered advice presented to council in the past and it is evident that this should have been a priority quite some time ago.

The cost, according to the city, might be only $15-18 per year per household. We are already paying a hefty utilities levy; the cost could have been added to that of the new solid waste pickup trucks and containers.

How is it that much of Nanaimo sees recycling as a necessary part of solid waste removal and yet city council is still trying to make a decision?

Murray Carter, Nanaimo


The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.