From the IMAGE In-box

Strategy needed for messy mounds of waste in front of rental properties every Tuesday night

Every Tuesday evening, when I walk the dog through the neighbourhood, my blood pressure rises at the sight of the mountains of waste in front of rental properties—waste that is most often not properly stored, put out too early, in bags that are easily torn apart by animals, leaving a mess that no one cleans up.

These rental properties are a business and every other business (including apartment and condo buildings) has to pay to dispose of its own garbage, so why are they exempt?

The new waste collection limits won’t bring much improvement either. According to the City’s website, the new rules will apply to these “multi-unit properties,” with a limit of 3 bags per unit. So taxpayers are still paying for commercial businesses to dispose of their garbage.

And what can we do about the “usual culprits” that don’t have enclosed waste receptacles and don’t keep the property clean? We can put in a 311 complaint. Again, and again. Until we are fed up and stop trying because the system (that we pay for) doesn’t work.

It is well past time for the City to treat these multi-unit rental properties like what they are: a profit-making commercial business. Tax them like a business, and make them pay for their own waste collection. And if they don’t like it, tell them to call 311.

Jason Kitchen
Blackburn Avenue