San Diego urged to charge for trash pickup

TONY PERRY AND SAN DIEGO — The San Diego County Grand Jury recommended Tuesday that the San Diego City Council do something previous councils have found too politically dangerous: ask residents to pay for trash pickup.

The grand jury, in its function as watchdog of local government, suggested that the council put a measure on the ballot that would overturn a 1919 ordinance barring the city from charging single-family home dwellers for trash pickup.

The law, dubbed the People’s Ordinance, stems from civic pique in 1919 when San Diegans realized that a company that was charging for trash pickup was making a profit by selling the garbage to hog farmers in Los Angeles.

The ordinance bans a separate charge for single-family homes and small businesses but allows a charge for apartment residents and larger businesses. San Diego is the only major city in the state, possibly the nation, not to charge homeowners for trash pickup, a grand jury report said.

Free trash pickup costs the city $52.7 million a year, according to a grand jury report.

With San Diego, like many local governments, struggling to pay for basic services, the trash ordinance “has outlived its usefulness in a 21st century society,” the grand jury said.

By law, the council has three months to respond. Some council members and the editorial page of the San Diego newspaper have already lined up against charging residents for trash pickup.

--

[email protected]