New Trash Monopoly All but Official

I am not getting all warm and fuzzy with civic pride when a critical utility (trash hauling and recycling) becomes a monopoly with all the leverage over the city government and eventually it becomes too big to fail.

We have seen how that turns out in other critical industries.

And just how do we know that "negotiations fail to bear fruit" when we only have one flowering plant with which to compare the fruit production. Maybe, oh maybe, this cumulative $60 million contract indeed will attract other firms to enter the market.

Maybe editorial writers who pretend to know something about economics in other publications might start looking into and writing about all this? After all, the SB city establishment wants the Marborg Monopoly so that should be reason enough for Lanny and Wendy to be against it. Follow the money, who received it, and how they voted.

The good ol U.S.A has been privatizing services at the request of the chambers of commerce for some time now. The long term result to rid us of government provided services, because of the corruption and all.

But now we're satisfied: now that we have a local who has provided what we, through city government, has asked for. The question is how will this apparent monopoly continue to be the good cost effective service provider without all this much bandied about 'competition.' Remember the chambers' mantra that competition is required for service and pricing. Shouldn't the chamber be against this or do they just go along with a good old boy.

If any of the folks who chose to run off BFI pretend to be surprised by Marborgs new "hardball" stance I'd say they're not being honest. That or they never took "negotiation 101"!
The article I read said multiple unit rates would see a price increase which sounds like lower income folks will be hit. This is counter to what Marborgs political consultant is saying. Its very hard to know how inexpensively a job can be done without competitive bidding. No matter how hard Mario and his political consultant try to reassure us of their commitment to the community, the fact remains that Marborgs is in the drivers seat now. Here we goooooo.

JHL writes truth to power this time.

The presentation/pitch by that political consultant and the Marborg staffer during that city council meeting differed markedly in many ways from the detailed, expensive analysis in the city staff report, which was supposed to be analyzing the same proposal.

One could conclude that the single, complicated proposal provided by Marborg was deliberately convoluted as a tactic to spend out the consultant budget for its analysis. Then, because no money would be left for an outside expert, the consulting budget would be depleted as a way to influence the city staff later to recommend against a true competitive proposal review process with open competition that would require more consultant funds. Even Michael Self saw that and asked the price of a consultant analysis of truly competitive proposals.

Are JHL and I the only ones smelling the stench here that will lead to trash bills for everyone at least $10 higher per month in a few years?
Perhaps so, as this news article by Nick Welsh was very disappointing today.

Mario Borgatello has been one of the best public citizens in Santa Barbara for at least my 3+ decades here. He gives personal and business funds freely in the community.
In an open bidding process MarBorg beat Allied, the competition, in an initiative that was being driven by a city insider.
What more should MarBorg do?
Not beat the competition in a competitive process after having been a great trash hauler for decades?
Not accept a contract simply because his business is more efficient than the competition?
Hauling garbage is not particularly amenable to multiple companies due to the recurring heavy burden of equipment(new trucks alone are around $300k each) and high personnel cost.
With regards to the Murillo comment about Marborg playing "hardball", duh Cathy, unlike community organizers and government supported programs, private companies have to play hardball to stay in business.
If and when Marborg screws up we can all yell; until that time why are we predicting doom for a company that has been an exceptional model in the community?
And no, despite our shared heritage, I have never met Mario in person.

Italiansurge...you're right about private companies and the need to play hardball to survive. However, this all changes when you are given a monopoly. Think of it like a marriage.
You aren't supposed to play hardball with your spouse once they grant a monopoly. That's why I said "here we goo", we are waiting to see if Marborg will honor the trust they've been given and actually DROP our rates now that they have the whole pie. They can certainly operate on a thinner margin now that they KNOW they have a guaranteed income.

It may or may not change, so you and I agree, and we have to watch closely.

JHL is citing the ideal that seldom results. How happy is everyone with Cox Communications on their TV monopoly?
Is service improving while prices decline?

And italiansurg, before you take some more cheap shots, you first should read the lengthy staff report that was developed for this city council action last Tuesday. Your comments also are mixing up what happened in Goleta with Santa Barbara.

Good community organizers study the issues first instead of repeat Fox News sound bites.

You and KV seem to be the experts on Fox news. I do not watch it. But keep watching and reporting back to those of us that can think for ourselves. We can always use another laugh at the expense of a Progressive mush head.