Proposed Waste Management Ordinance

If it works, don't fix it. The transfer station has worked well for many many years. Curb side pick-up would be a disaster for Vista Redonda homeowners.

We use the Tesuque Transfer Station exclusively for our garbage and yard waste disposal. We find it very convenient and hope it will remain available to us.

Curbside pickup is suitable for urbanized neighborhoods which can organize it on their own. County need force it on rural areas such as ours.

Don't close our Tesuque Transfer Station! Curbside pickup is for 'urban areas' not rural districts such as ours

The Transfer Station is truly a positive feature of our part of the County - it works very well for residents, it is cost-effective for residents (who are paying taxes for this type of services already), it is less expensive than any private or truck-based collection service, it has got to a low cost service for the County (since the residents do most of the work by bringing the garbage and recyclables to the site), its prominent position on 592 is a daily reminder of the benefits of recycling and our obligations to do our part, it is good for the environment in that it reduces wildlife and vermin access to garbage and reduces random unauthorized trash dumping in our area, truck-based services have a much higher carbon footprint, truck-based services are extremely inefficient in areas with widely-dispersed homes (the vast majority of which have long dirt or gravel driveways not conducive to twice weekly truck pick-up services. Most of all, the Transfer Station yields the County an intangible benefit worth more than the cost: Rudy is an excellent ambassador for the County. It is difficult to imagine why closure would make sense under the circumstances. We believe the County should not close the Transfer Station.

The Tesuque Transfer Station works very well. Please do not close it. There is not a good alternative.

My wife and I are both in our seventies with a gravel driveway of over 700 feet.

I have lived off Co. Rd. 74 for 30 years. This proposal is crazy. Whenever something is working well, the County administration steps in to change it.

Please read the article about illegal dumping in neighboring counties that results from this type of proposed waste management: New Mexican 6/28/15

We NEED the transfer station in Tesuque!

In addition to being both less convenient and less efficient, curb-side pickup is environmentally irresponsible compared to the current centralized system. Please keep the system as it is.

Closing the Tesuque Station would be a serious problem, as stated in the petition. Helen and Richard Brandt

This proposed ordinance is an extremely retrograde proposal. The bears will soon learn to patrol the truck route a few hours beforehand and disperse all the trash!

More truck traffic will wreak havoc on the roads here.

This station is ecologically responsible.

The tax dollars received from the area served by the Tesuque transfer station more than adequately covers any operating expense of the station. The proposed changes are not fiscally responsible.

The tax dollars received from the area served by the Tesuque transfer station more than adequately covers any operating expense of the station. The proposed changes are not fiscally responsible.

The tax dollars received from the area served by the Tesuque transfer station more than adequately covers any operating expense of the station. The proposed changes are not fiscally responsible.

My property taxes go up three percent every year, the cost of a punch card for the transfer station has nearly doubled, and now you want to close it all together.

Closing the Tesuque facility is the opposite of “improving solid waste disposal services.” Whereas the facility along State Road 592 is convenient and trips there can be integrated with other errands thereby saving fuel and minimizing pollution, closing that facility will result in increased driving and emissions . . . if we are lucky. When access to a solid waste transfer facility is both inconvenient and costly, expect an increase in illegal dumping that has manifold negative impacts: it is unsightly, unhealthy and uneconomical. The first point is obvious by inspection and will become more so. The linkages between trash, vermin and disease are undeniable. The cost to clean up and remediate spontaneous dumpsites exceeds the cost of hauling away trash from the transfer station. Don’t turn our neighborhoods, roadways, and arroyos into dumps. The idea that solid waste disposal services ought to be self-supporting is wrong-headed. With the exception of the water enterprise fund, the housing enterprise fund, and the regional planning authority, County government services are not expected to ‘break even.’ We pay taxes to fund those services. When the Indigent Services Fund paid over $68,000 (old figure) in October to La Familia Medical/Dental Center, our tax money was spent to improve the lives of our neighbors. When the Alcohol Programs Fund paid Capital City Cab over $13,000 (old number) last month, the cost of cab rides was substantially subsidized in the interest of keeping us all safer. The Tesuque solid waste transfer station is a vital public service deserving the support of our tax dollars. Indeed, for poorer residents, the cost should be lowered, or waived altogether in the public interest.