[quote=“AnnaA”]Just to reassure people, we (council) have not voted to do anything with Wantage road and putting up a gate. People have been complaining and the idea of a gate was presented as a possible solution to the problem. We are open to any suggestions that people have and the item was deferred for 60 days so that people could make their feelings known, and let us know what they would like to see us do, or not do. Please let us know what you would like to see done and if you have any solutions that could work to solve the problem.
Just thought I would let you know.
Anna Ashley
Feel free to email me- anna.ashley@princerupert.ca or phone me- 250-624-5492 if you have any suggestions or have input you would like to share. I will also follow this thread so feel free to submit ideas on here as well.
Thanks.[/quote]
Hi Anna,
Thank you for being open to discuss this issue using this medium. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of the residents are strongly opposed to the dumping that has occurred in this area and I’ll assume that most of us would also be disappointed to see access to this area restricted. Mt. Hays is really one of the true gems that we have in our community and by blocking access would further restrict public access to some great recreational areas. We’ve already lost access to Ridley Island and losing access to this area would also be unfortunate.
One possible solution would be to video all incoming and outgoing traffic in conjunction with site patrols first thing in the morning and at the end of the day by public works staff. If anything was to be dumped it would easily be able to be narrowed to a time during the day or night and could be traced back to vehicles that were videotaped entering and leaving area at a particular time. This is less costly than a gate, could be integrated into current municipal security monitoring and would have less of a negative impact on the public. If measures such as this fail to solve the problem then more drastic measures could be reconsidered.
[quote=“AnnaA”]Just to reassure people, we (council) have not voted to do anything with Wantage road and putting up a gate. People have been complaining and the idea of a gate was presented as a possible solution to the problem. We are open to any suggestions that people have and the item was deferred for 60 days so that people could make their feelings known, and let us know what they would like to see us do, or not do. Please let us know what you would like to see done and if you have any solutions that could work to solve the problem.
Just thought I would let you know.
Anna Ashley
Feel free to email me- anna.ashley@princerupert.ca or phone me- 250-624-5492 if you have any suggestions or have input you would like to share. I will also follow this thread so feel free to submit ideas on here as well.
Thanks.[/quote]
Rather than email you…I think it would be nearly 100% assumed that the majority in this city would be ROYALLY pissed at council if they EVER tried to restrict or block access to Mt. Hays, pretty much a local institution in this city.
The fact that this has even been considered is ridiculous.
Good to see that a Councillor cares enough to listen.
Why aren’t the current anti-dumping bylaws being enforced? There have been pictures of people’s garbage with names and addresses posted on this site. There have been pretty simple ideas thrown around on this site about looking up vin numbers from the abandoned vehicles. These seem like a pretty minimal effort.
I think the city should install wildlife type cameras along the road and at some of the favorite dumping spots, it also seems like the public could be more involved.
I don’t understand why names, account numbers and other identifiers from the trash is not being used to trace who these individuals are and have fines and ect brought against them for illegal dumping?
I know this will not ultimately solve the issue of dumping, but it certainly can be used as a way to recoup cleanup costs and act as a firm deterrent to the people continually doing this.
[quote=“bthedog”]I don’t understand why names, account numbers and other identifiers from the trash is not being used to trace who these individuals are and have fines and ect brought against them for illegal dumping?
I know this will not ultimately solve the issue of dumping, but it certainly can be used as a way to recoup cleanup costs and act as a firm deterrent to the people continually doing this.[/quote]
I agree with your post but do you really think Rupert would be able to not only enforce these bylaws but collect on the fines? As far as a deterrent, the mere fact people do this shows they don’t give a rats’ ass, so what would the threat of collecting a fine from them do? They do it because they are lazy and because they can and sadly if they do go to the extreme and put a gate across Wantage Rd., they will still find a way and all that would be for nothing. If they stop tossing their crap there, they will find somewhere else to do it, I hear Tweedle Dee and Dumb Lakes are already in use.
I completely disagree with the proposed gate on wantage. Mt Hayes is a great resource for Rupert. I Know there are a lot of people that use the road for walks up the hill, it is good for exercise. I plan on fighting this all the way.
I don’t have a problem with landscapers or anyone plunking grass cuttings, untreated and unpainted wood, tree pruning cuttings on Wantage. As it decays it does not cause harm. That stuff shouldn’t be in the dump anyway.
I don’t agree. If you start allowing people to dump wood waste and such, eventually people will get the wrong idea and start dumping painted or treated lumber, old building materials, drywall, etc, and we’ll end up back in this situation. It should all go to the dump, compost or burn it in your backyard.
I’m growing tired of the one-dimensional solutions that this town always seems to come up with to problems. “People are dumping garbage, therefore we should physically stop them from dumping garbage”.
Putting up a gate will ultimately have no effect. I have no doubt that any one of those huge trucks hanging around wantage will have no hesitation in ripping a gate right out of the there. The ‘alternative’ that people are throwing around is putting up cameras to give a slap on the wrist (but any fine is probably not a deterrent because dumping at the landfill will remain more expensive). Either way, simple actions like this will only move the problem elsewhere or cause damage.
Instead, why aren’t we asking why people are dumping garbage on wantage in the first place? IMO, it’s because: 1) most of the stuff cannot be recycled here currently (appliances) 2) it is free, not a huge cost like at the dump, and 3) it is super convenient, not like spending a half hour to an hour heading out to the landfill.
City council is complaining about the 19,000 it costs each year to clean up the site while citing a 4,000 bill to install a gate. It seems to make perfect economic sense right?
But what about the million dollars that the city puts into the landfill closure fund each year?
If they knew how to think past the problem and understand the issue as a whole, they could end illegal dumping quite easily.
By putting only 5%-10% of the annual landfill closure money into door-to-door recycling or better equipment at the recycling depot, the landfill life could effectively be doubled as more waste is diverted. On top of that, the recycling depot would earn greater revenue based on an increased amount and diversity of materials recycled. That way, less stuff could be banned from the landfill, costs could be reduced, and there would ultimately be less stuff dumped onto wantage.
I want to encourage council to be a little more forward-looking in their thinking. I have had enough of the band-aid solutions for the complex issues in this community.
The recycling depot takes appliances. I know they don’t take styrofoam. People are just cheap and lazy. Even some people who use the depot, just dump whatever into the bins. The people who dump ilegally do so because they don’t care. They should get hefty fines and if not paid tacked onto tax bills or vehicle insurance, like they want to do with parking fines. They are using a vehicle to get the junk dumped.
Why don’t we ask these people to just start dumping their stuff at west view school since the whole neighborhood will be a dump soon enough and apparently it is an industrial site.
Of course it’s ridiculous, and of course I’m not serious, just pissed and I think its just as ridiculous to build the pinnacle plant in this neighborhood !