The vote was 5-3 with Salinas being absent at the Council meeting tonight. Emerson, Higgs, and Markovich voted against the ordinance. Mr Emerson tried to get an amendment with reasonable regulations, but failed. Those who voted in favor were Kalwinski, Spitale, Opinker, Hinojosa, and Venezc. The direct impacts are as follows. For the 36 registered scrappers and their families, 24 of whom are Hammond residents, they have had their jobs legislated away from them by 5 cold, heartless elitists with no common sense, no compassion, and absolutely no conscience. Some of the 5 council members are/have been double dippers, feeding off the government teet by virtue of their government /city jobs, and their council jobs. Most, if not all, have outside full time jobs in addition to their council paychecks. And, they have voted themselves a raise earlier this year. How good for them, as they sit on their butts and collect 2 paychecks, when people who are picking up scrap are just trying to keep a roof over their head, and feed their families. The taxpayers lose like heck with this ordinance, all the way around. The alleys will be more trash filled, dangerous, and dirty. The taxpayers now have to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars for extra crews to pick up the extra rubbish. The estimated cost of just 2 extra trucks and 2 new employees, is over $100,000. Two trucks extra is nowhere near enough to fill this need. The taxpayers now have to pay more for tipping fee's to have the stuff hauled to a landfill. Enviornmentally, this is a disaster, as the items picked up by the scrappers, and recycled, will now be an additional hazard to the enviornment. Businesses lose. Mr. Beatty, who's family has been in business in Hammond for 95 years, and among his businesses, a scrapping facility, will be hurt by this ordinance. How many jobs will be lost at Mr. Beatty's place of business, because of this ordinance? What about the other scrapping facilities in Hammond? How many other people are going to lose their jobs because of this ordinance?
Guess who wins? PATRONAGE JOBS. That's right, PATRONAGE JOBS. More city employees, more friends and family plan. Shove the residents out who are trying to make a living in these rough economic times, and put in a bigger patronage army. No wonder this ordinance passed. the mayor pulled the strings on his puppets, and they did his bidding. Be warned, residents of Hammond, you are now criminals if you pick up a can lying on the street, or snatch a decent 10 speed bike for your kid, that your neighbor threw out in the trash.
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