Opinion: Paying 117% more for trash service that doesn’t come: Thanks, City Hall.

To the editor: I live in a small, 16-unit townhouse complex. Prior to Los Angeles’ RecycLA project being forced upon us by City Hall, we had trash pickups four days a week from an independent hauler for $187 per month (“L.A. and its trash haulers are quarreling over customer bills in the city’s new recycling program,” Dec. 26),

Our initial contract with our new franchise owner was for $722 per month for the same four days a week. We instead opted to spend $4,000 to enlarge our trash containment area, which allowed us to put in a blue recycle bin and reduce our pickups to two days a week for the charge of $406 per month. This meant we would owe “only” 117% more than we had been paying.

Problem is, our new waste hauler has missed virtually all of the scheduled recycle bin pickups. One time, the workers emptied the recycle bin into the regular trash truck.

For all of this, I must thank Mayor Eric Garcetti and others in City Hall. Los Angeles sure could use more of this “we’re from the government, and we’re here to help.”

Jim Toomey, Reseda

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To the editor: My apartment building in Los Angeles has been a customer of Athens Services for as long as I can remember. The company has used a key to enter the building and take the trash bin to the street.

With the new program in place, the company has started charging us to use the key it had been using all those years. This has increased our bill by 120%.

What angers owners is that the city created a monopoly for these companies without sensible price regulations. Now, we have price gouging.

Clearly, City Hall ignored the needs of trash customers and failed to create safeguards against price gouging. My only question is how could it be so incompetent?

Richard Klug, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Although the Los Angeles Times’ reporting on the new trash fees under the city’s RecycLA program is much appreciated, the article scarcely mentioned the 70%-100% increases in the base cost for trash bins.

My small business was paying $112 per month for a medium-sized bin, and the cost now via our “designated vendor” is close to $200. I am all for a cleaner city and more efficient recycling of waste, but that kind of price increase is draconian and smells of bad business.

Bruce Gaims, Lake Balboa

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To the editor: I have experienced the bite of the new city policy for trash pickup. It’s been a perfect storm.

We now have much higher costs for poorer service under the guise of environmental protection. Some of these costs are passed on to tenants.

What is particularly bothersome is the city may issue edicts that totally disrupt the competitive process. No wonder Los Angeles is so expensive .

Frank McGinity, Los Angeles

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