DEADLINE ON BFI CONTRACT DRAWN OUT THREE WEEKS.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer Just two days before the deadline for Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. to act on its trash-disposal contract, city leaders persuaded Browning Ferris Industries on Tuesday to give it at least three more weeks to renegotiate re·ne·go·ti·ate tr.v. re·ne·go·ti·at·ed, re·ne·go·ti·at·ing, re·ne·go·ti·ates 1. To negotiate anew. 2. To revise the terms of (a contract) so as to limit or regain excess profits gained by the contractor. the contract to dump in Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills. North Valley Councilman Greig Smith Greig Smith is a Los Angeles City Councilman, representing the 12th District, which includes Granada Hills, Northridge and other parts of the Western San Fernando Valley. Smith is also a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. urged the City Council during a contentious hearing to demand a new contract that could cut the price of dumping at Sunshine Canyon Landfill and drop conditions that require the city to take all disposed trash to the facility. The council narrowly voted to try to renegotiate the five-year contract, and Smith, Council President Alex Padilla Alex Padilla is a politician in California. He was elected as the State Senator for the 20th District of California in November 2006 and was inaugurated in early December. In order to enter the Senate he had to resign as Councilman for the 7th District on the Los Angeles City and a representative from Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. pushed BFI BFI - brute force and ignorance to reopen the contract during a closed-door meeting Tuesday afternoon. Smith said the current contract prohibits the city from negotiating with other trash-handling companies and makes it difficult to pursue his new 20-year plan to reduce the city's dependence on landfills by developing facilities that convert trash into energy and usable products. ``We need to reject this contract or we need to amend it to work for the city of Los Angeles
BFI officials said they were disappointed at the 11th-hour tactics by the City Council, but they agreed to discuss some parts of the contract. District Manager Greg Loughnane said the BFI contract doesn't hinder Smith's 20-year plan to reduce the use of landfills, but that the city would face higher rates if it doesn't meet its guarantees on the amount of refuse it dumps at Sunshine Canyon. ``If the city chooses not to extend the agreement, they'll have to compete with others at market rates.'' Los Angeles now Wikipedia is not the place for advertisement or self-advertising. Los Angeles Now, a documentary by Producer/Director Phillip Rodriguez, made its national high definition broadcast premiere on PBS’ Independent Lens series in November 2004. pays about $24 per ton and the gate fee at Sunshine Canyon is estimated to be around $35 per ton. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office and some council members urged the city to renew the current BFI contract, without trying to renegotiate, in fear that the company could hike trash disposal rates or turn away city trash altogether in 2006 when the current contract ends. ``It's a brinksmanship brink·man·ship also brinks·man·ship n. The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede. issue and we're playing at the taxpayers' expense,'' said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski Cindy Miscikowski represented the 11th District on the Los Angeles City Council for two full terms from 1997 through 2005. Previously, she was an aide to Councilman Marvin Braude and the Executive Director of the Skitball Cultural Center in its beginning stages. , who said the city already pays $200 million per year to collect trash from single family homes and small apartment complexes. ``It's too soon, too hard and a year from now the situation is not going to change; we're still going to be picking up the trash and perhaps at a higher subsidy.'' The city currently sends 3,800 tons per day of trash collected from single-family homes and small apartment complexes to Sunshine Canyon Landfill. Recognizing Mayor James Hahn's failure to deliver on his pledge to halt city use of Sunshine Canyon, North Valley Coalition President Wayde Hunter urged the council to rewrite the contract to allow other trash disposal options. ``At this late in the game, it's kind of hard for them to get religion and do what should have been done a long time ago,'' he said. Also on Tuesday, the council voted to establish a committee of sanitation employees, environmental affairs employees and community leaders to oversee the implementation of Smith's RENEW LA plan to divert trash from landfills to alternative technologies. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: L.A.'s TRASH DILEMMA SOURCE: Daily News research Daily News |
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