Outsourced!

We've talked before about how the issue of outsourcing services is a sore point in Claremont. People in town are particularly attached to the Claremont Police Department, but they're nearly as protective of the City's trash service.

In its February 27 issue, the Claremont Courier carried a letter from resident Gregory Toliver, who wrote in to say:

The city of Claremont's sanitation department has served us well in all the time I've lived here [over 20 years, according to Toliver], and so I was surprised to learn that there was actually a proposal under discussion to contract this service out to private companies. This is apparently part of somebody's plan to address the city's budget problems.

Toliver pointed out that the sanitation department takes in $1.7 million in much-needed municipal revenue and that a trash contractor would provide "lower quality service" at a higher price. Toliver questioned the need to make a change and concluded, "As my dad used to say: 'If it ain't broke, nobody needs to fix it...'"

Apparently, the communitarians at the Claremont Unified School District didn't get Toliver's memo. A reader pointed out to us that if you visit any CUSD school and try to find the familiar green Claremont city dumpsters, you'll search in vain. CUSD, whose board is supported by the same trash fanatics who insist that the City continue to provide its own waste hauling service, has contracted out to Orange County-based Ware Disposal for its own trash service.

Click Image to Enlarge

If you go to Condit Elementary on Mountain Ave. (the site of the repeated wiring hazards), and you will see two gray Ware Disposal bins. One of them is in the photo to the left.


It's not just Condit. Every single CUSD facility has the same trash service. The same bins are present at Sycamore Elementary, for example (photo, right).

All of which makes us marvel at the hypocrisy of the Claremont 400, who force you to pay a premium for your trash service while allowing the Claremont Unified School District to shop around for the best deal. (Presumably the cash-strapped district wouldn't be using Ware if it weren't cheaper than the city service.)

In case you are curious about price comparisons, here's a contact number for Ware, courtesy of CUSD: