A Long Time Ago, a Landfill Not So Far Away

 As promised, here is Trail Ridge Debacle (The Quick Version) - Part One.

Trail Ridge, of course, is the landfill where all of the trash from Jacksonville goes. At issue is the question of who gets to operate the landfill when it expands. The whole site is 978 acres - but so far, only 144 acres have been used. The 144 acre portion is running out of capacity, so it's time to expand the landfill using more of the land on the site. Currently, the landfill is operated by Waste Management. Republic Services, a major competitor of Waste Management, would like to take over.

Waste Management believes that the contract they signed in 1991 gives them the right to operate the entire landfill, although that is disputed by a number of people.

Republic Services, along with a variety of people and organizations, contend that, when the city-owned landfill is expanded, the contract to operate the landfill should be put out to a public bid (and in the interest of fairness, I should probably state that I don't really disagree with a public bid).

Seems simple, right? How could this go so wrong? Oh, in so many ways. Each side lawyered up, hired big gun lobbyists, and lined up whatever insiders & influential friends they could to fight for their position.

As you'll see in future posts, both sides pulled some pretty nasty manuvers to try to get their way. As you'll see from those above links, this political horror story starts out just like so many others: a lot of money to be made, and a lot of money to be made off of deciding who makes that money.