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Mailbag: New trash bins don’t fit in yard or garage

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I just read in the Daily Pilot that the Newport Beach City Council voted to require that the new trash bins be stored inside rather than in an alley as many residents have been doing (“City code updated to fit new trash contract,” March 26).

There is no way that the new bins will fit in my yard or garage. The same goes for most of my neighbors on the peninsula. I carefully measured the outside area and ordered bins that I thought would fit nicely along the outside of the garage, where the current one has been for years.

Saying that kids and wind may knock over the cans is a poor excuse. The size, weight and design of the new bins suggests they will be less likely to be knocked over. Lids are permanently attached and will not blow away like they do now. And people really do use the trash cans stored in the alleyways when they walk through, rather than throwing their refuse on the streets. I see it all the time.

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This restriction also requires that someone be home to put the bins out on collection day and move them back in after collection. There are many instances when owners or tenants may not be home the day of collection and their trash goes uncollected.

During the summer there are many rental units, and thinking that the short-term renters will put out the bins for weekend collection before they vacate is expecting a lot.

I hope this decision is reconsidered since it will be a hardship for many residents. And some of us, plain and simple, cannot put the bins anywhere else because of the small lots and side yards.

Harlan Lassiter

Newport Beach

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Vaping can help kick the habit

Patrice Apodaca’s column “Clear air on harm of vaping,” (March 16) was interesting although heavily slanted.

Vaping has gotten a large amount of downside press, and I agree it can be harmful if misused. Parents should make it a priority to be aware of what their children are doing and warn them of the dangers of misuse. But there is also an upside to vaping.

My daughter started smoking cigarettes 20-some years ago and was unable to stop, although she tried many times.

In December 2012, she came home for her annual Christmas visit, and I talked her into trying to stop smoking using the nicotine patch. She tried the patch, and it worked to some degree, but the habit of reaching for a cigarette was still there, so we bought her an e-cigarette — one that did not contain nicotine.

The combination of the patch and the e-cigarette worked, and within three months she was off cigarettes, the patch and the e-cigarette. To this date she has remained a nonsmoker.

So with the proper incentive and choice of deterrents, the smoking habit can be beat. Vaping, under the right circumstances, can be a positive health reform.

Robert Dettloff

Huntington Beach

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