Updated: Tempest in a Trash Can

[Updated:  As expected, the Maplewood City Council voted to end competition for trash collection in that eastern Minnesota suburban community.  The 4-1 vote capped a contentious meeting.  Chalk it up to a cautionary tale about representatives not listening to voters and the dangers of lame duck legislative sessions.  As least the citizens went down fighting.]

The St. Paul, Minnesota, suburb of Maplewood has all but decided to end competition among garbage haulers in the city and award one company a monopoly franchise.  Somehow the lame-duck City Council has decided that this will somehow save residents money in the long run.

The real driver behind this wholesale silliness is Minnesota's Pollution Control Agency, (PCA) who are convinced that all those competing trucks driving down the street are bad for the environment (diesel fumes) and everything would be so much tidier if only one monopoly provider were at work.  Capitalism often turns out to be a messier business than our enlightened central planners would prefer.  The PCA couldn't sell this policy to the state legislators, so they are taking their 300-page study of how capitalism doesn't work on the road.  The PCA is now trying to convince each city to drop garbage competition.  I'm not sure what state law authorizes a state agency to lobby city by city for its own agenda, but no matter.

As usual, the people are ahead of their leaders.  The Star Tribune quotes one Maplewood resident, Sue Stark,

"They are not saving me any money," said Stark, who pays about $16 a month for service.  "They are taking away my rights."

Sorry Ms. Stark, as usual, your rights were in the way.