Mailbag: Privatize City Council, not trash service

I think Newport Beach is making a big mistake thinking about privatizing our trash service.

These particular employees are efficient and invaluable. They skillfully get through our skinny alleys, and they are extremely polite and helpful. Why should they sacrifice their jobs to help pay for the new City Mahal?

Our trash collectors are quality people. Perhaps we should start privatizing the work of the City Council and staff.

Julie Mattson

Balboa Peninsula

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Remember what happened in L.A.

The proposal to outsource trash collection sure has a lot of folks in town riled up, including members of my family.

While proponents say the change will result in huge savings, there are other costs to consider, not the least of which is that the current system is popular with just about everyone I have talked to. The council should not be hasty on this one — and perhaps should wait until the next election and put it to a vote.

Yes, our representatives should lead and make bold decisions when they must, but they also might want to listen to what the people want as well. This does not always seem to be the case in our fair city. I would remind our mayor that this very issue brought down the then-Mayor of Los Angeles Norris Poulson in 1961.

A guy named Sam Yorty made a big deal about Poulson’s efforts to change the city’s trash collection system, won the election and went on to serve three terms.

Trash collection may sound like a mundane issue, but the fact is that it has a direct effect on the lives of everyone in town, more than just about anything else I can think of.

Lenard Davis

Newport Beach

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Conservative critic is incorrect

Regarding Lenard Davis’ commentary (“Consistent conservatism,” Mailbag, Sept. 6.): Davis’ archaic interpretation of data supports his values. He has taken a few events from the Dark Ages and turned these into a single thread to explain the entire history of conservatives.

Since Davis cannot think of a single major issue in the past 200 years that indicated conservatives were ever on the side of progress, here is a list of conservatives who I believe were just that: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill, to name a few.

Juli Hayden

Newport Beach