Norwalk gave us a new mandate along with a 10% plus property tax increase. For that exorbitant increase, you get a new can, and that’s it. If you have too much for that can, you can apply for another one, and if approved, you can pay $300 for another one.
Does this new policy, along with its disparity in barring some former garbage collection recipients from being included in the collection, benefit residents of this town? Abjectly, no, I conclude. Most social media posts and questions out there show outrage and cite all of the “problems” to be expected due to this cost-cutting measure.
It is antithetical to give property owners an exorbitant but not complete increase in taxes at 10% + and take AWAY or reduce services that are “expected” basic services. Most residential and multi-family properties already had their own “garbage receptacles” and put them out on their garbage day, and expected they would be picked up. They did not expect to be denied service or told to stuff everything into this tiny can that was left on your doorstep, that for many not online, had no idea what to do with it. The lack of foresight and communication on this issue has created a very negative feedback ratio among residents overall.
The latest in this debacle is surrounding the new option to apply to purchase another can for $300, if approved. First of all, that is above acceptable pricing for a can that is below standard, as many have cited. It is also completely out of touch with the town that we once knew, turned “bat-shit crazy.” I want to be a “city,” not a town, and be the second bedroom of NY, like Stamford. A trend that many of us see, and ultimately HATE, that has ultimately been shoved down our throats, reminiscent of our mothers shoving medicine in us as children, that we were forced into compliance with, but as adults, questioned.
Now, as adult property owners, we are seemingly put in the same objective narrative of forced compliance, largely as a result of the lack of representative governance resulting from “one-party rule”. Sometimes diversity of governance matters, even in such seemingly “small” instances regarding how a town or city expects one to dispose of one’s garbage.
Less does not always equal more, especially when a one-party rule expects one to comply with one garbage can to one residence and requires that you pay more, and like the lack of service that comes with it.
This type of government equals control and compliance, and that type of governance used to be labeled “communism”. Having no choice and living in a society where compliance [with] the set norm was a governing requirement is an “un-American” anti-freedom, anti-constitutional state of affairs in Connecticut and especially Norwalk, this town we call home.
If voters here continue to exist merely to comply with the latest decree, do not speak up, then surely the result will not stop at one garbage can per address, but will surely turn into NO GARBAGE ALLOWED anywhere for pick-up, among other forced compliance decrees. The more you, as a taxpayer, are willing to comply and “suck-up” to the one-party governance, the more control they will assume they have. It’s simple and it’s really apolitical, it is just the fact of the Government controlling you!
Our forefathers fought a war for our freedom, a freedom that meant that we do not automatically comply with any governance without our voice being present in the representative governance called “We the People”. Did folks forget about that or just agree to not fight for it anymore?
Today it is a garbage can and a suck it up 10% tax increase to pay for big deals by politicians you don’t even like; and tomorrow it might be, leave your home because you can’t afford the property it sits on anymore; think about that. That is called tyranny! So get up and get on your phone and tell Norwalk politicians this garbage can stuff is not working. There are rats in the street, garbage dumped everywhere, and an attitude [that is] unreceptive [to] the taxes I pay to this town for this type of attitude toward my interests as a taxpayer. Better yet, consider reviewing the Republican candidates on the ballot for Norwalk Municipal elections this November, change in leadership is good, someone speaking for you is good!
Don’t agree to be ripped off and to comply with stupidity, which is what this is, when you know you are not stupid, but their one-party rule surely is!
Liz Conti
Norwalk Republican Town Committee
Editor’s note: This letter has been edited for grammar and clarity. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this publication.
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