This is not a reference to that occasional blogger "Bin Hire", but to the odd Kiwi rubbish removal system.
We live in Silverstream, a pleasant, slightly upmarket area between Upper Hutt (UH) and Stokes Valley in Lower Hutt. I pay rates to the UH council, to the amount of $566 every two months.
This is not an inconsiderable amount, and for this money, I expect to get a reasonable service.
Ha.
OK, UH has a reasonable library service, some decent gyms and swimming pools, and some very nice parks and walks. But I have to pay again for council-authorised bin bags if I want my rubbish removed, and I have to of course, dump the rubbish at the road side for collection.
In the UK, my rates were very similar. The council there provided three large wheelie bins, one for household rubbish, one for recyclables and one for organic garden waste. The bins were emptied every week and the cost to me? nothing. It was all included in the rates. As was completely free education for my kids in primary and secondary, a great library service, fully professional fire brigade, good policing levels and all the other services you would expect in a civilized country. Everything was delivered without an extra charge.
As the rates are very similar, why the hell doesn't the Kiwi councils manage to do the same?
I actually now find it cheaper to use a private service which costs me $140 per year for a wheely bin plus weekly emptying. This works out to about the same as if we were buying the council authorised bin bags, and we can stuff all sorts of waste into the big bin.
I suspect that the Kiwi councils are spending too much on all the loony-lefty-greenie causes. You know the ones. With names like: "The Maori Lesbian Coalition for Artistic Expression Through Public Defecation "
or
"Gay Horse Fanciers and Flower Arrangers Supporting the Freedom Fighters of the Taliban".
The loons.
Plus of course the large dinners on the council credit cards.
Abandon the loons.
Support the schools
Make rubbish collection more efficient and totally free.
There's an idea. We could chain the loons to the rubbish cart, get them to work for a change and reduce my rates.
Although I agree with you on some fronts here, my first response is why don't you go home?
ReplyDeleteI agree. And, this post is bordering on the kind of complaining that I'm supposed to do. Lighten up.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed that in the elephant picture, there is a man lying underneath the pile of dung.
ReplyDelete"why don't you go home?"
ReplyDeleteYou can't! Who would set the daily relief?
Jesus said,
ReplyDelete"When you meet a weary traveller, take him into your home, feed him and give him wine and give him a place to sleep, because where this traveller goes, there go I."
"This is not a reference to that occasional blogger "Bin Hire"."
ReplyDeleteHey, upstart, when did I become a casual blogger?
Bin Hire
I didn't say casual, I said occasional. As in not very often.
ReplyDelete"my first response is why don't you go home?"
ReplyDeleteWhat a horible thing to say FFFFlur. This is my home. Many aspects of Kiwi life are superior to that of the UK, and I never want to go back. But, if I've seen services which are done more efficiently or cheaper, and the methodology does not seriously impinge on Kiwi culture, then I want to introduce that method.
Apart from the bins, obvious areas to me are :
Provision of a central buying/servicing/networked computer system for all schools in the whole Wellington area.
Selling spirits in supermarkets.
Sending Winston Peters into permanent exile in the Chathams.
I know how you feel TSB. I have no desire to go back to Arabia either, though I do remember the good things...
ReplyDeleteWomen were more subserviant and dates were cheaper.
Bin Hire
ps. In the business, that first bin you pictured is called a 35B handicart.