Not Just Talkin’ Trash : Permit: One firm has been hauling Ventura’s garbage for six decades, but a newcomer is petitioning City Hall for a piece of the action.

A garbage war has begun to heat up in the city of Ventura. On one side of the scrap is E.J. Harrison & Sons, a family that has monopolized the business of collecting the city’s trash for the past five years.

But seeking to unseat the Harrisons at the top of the garbage heap in the city is another Ventura trash collection company, Rubbish Control Inc.

Next week the city will vote to award a company owned by the Harrisons, Gold Coast Recycling, exclusive rights to buy Ventura’s recyclable waste for the next five years.

E.J. Harrison’s three sons own one-third of Gold Coast and one of them, Jim Harrison, is the company president. On July 30, the council is scheduled to vote on whether to renew E.J. Harrison & Sons’ trash-hauling permit. E.J. Harrison has hauled the city’s trash the past six decades.

But Rubbish Control Inc., which deals primarily with customers in unincorporated areas of the county, although it has some customers in the city, wants a bigger piece of the action.

After exchanging letters with city officials asking for a permit to expand operations in Ventura, Rubbish Control took the matter directly to the City Council on Monday.

“We want the right to compete,” said Rick Chaidez, an attorney for Rubbish Control. “We want a part of the recycling business, and we want to force Harrison to drive prices down.”

In the past year, Rubbish Control officials have sent six letters to City Manager John Baker requesting a meeting to discuss the possibility of obtaining a permit to work in the city.

Baker responded last July that the city had just finished its yearly review of its trash permit, and that the newcomer would have to wait another year before being considered for the permit.

Since then, Rubbish Control officials said they have tried repeatedly to meet with city officials, but the requested meeting never took place.

“The monopoly and control of the refuse/rubbish business in the City of Ventura held by the Harrison family seems out of control,” Chaidez wrote Baker in a July 6 letter. “Is there really an intent on the part of your office and other city offices to allow competitive bidding?”

Terry Adelman, Ventura finance director, said city officials never met with Rubbish Control because the garbage haulers failed to provide the city with information needed to begin considering an application.

“We told them that we needed the information to see if there is a reason to meet, and they never presented that,” Adelman said.

But at Monday’s council session, Baker told Chaidez that he has asked his secretary to schedule a meeting sometime next week.

On Tuesday, Rubbish Control owner Morteza Yassani said Baker’s secretary has yet to contact him.

Rubbish Control officials also contend that Harrison is abusing its privilege by charging whatever it wants and that a new company in the city would benefit the community.

“Our prices are more competitive,” said Gloria Whitcomb, Rubbish Control office manager. “We average $6 less per commercial bin.”

But a price comparison on bids made by both companies in August to haul rubbish from county buildings within the city of Ventura shows that E.J. Harrison charges $5 less for a weekly pickup of a commercial-size bin.

Jim Harrison said that the threat of losing the city contract if his company fails to deliver quality service and prices is incentive enough for his company and that competition will not necessarily benefit the city.

“In the past, wide-open competition hasn’t worked well,” he said, adding that the city had six competing garbage companies as recently as the 1960s.

“The ideal situation is a partnership between the city and the refuse hauler, like the one we have right now.”

City Council members said Tuesday that they are happy with Harrison & Sons but are open to new proposals.

“My feeling is that the future is with the Harrisons,” said Councilman Gary Tuttle, who sits on the county regional sanitation board. “They provide good service, competitive rates, and they are a local family. We know them and that’s important to me.”

On the other hand, Tuttle said, “the threat of new competition means continued good service and good rates.”

“I grew up with the Harrisons,” Councilman Jim Monahan said. “I know they are honest, legitimate folk. But we could probably benefit from a little competition in the commercial refuse sector.”

Many local businesses seem to agree. In a survey conducted earlier this year by Rubbish Control among Greater Ventura Chamber of Commerce members, more than 75% of the 692 respondents said “we feel there needs to be another rubbish hauler.”

Adelman said the survey will be considered when the city decides on Rubbish Control’s permit in upcoming weeks. But, he added, the city will also consider that Rubbish Control is already operating in the city--and without a permit.

“We told them that we’re looking for upright citizens and the fact that they are violating the city code will definitely be a consideration that the council will take into account when it makes a judgment,” Adelman said.

Rubbish Control officials freely acknowledge that they service about six commercial accounts in the city, including Kinko’s on Stanley Avenue, Ventura Carpet on Palma Avenue and the House of Paper on Palma Avenue.

“We’re not trying to take away anybody’s business,” said Yassani, whose company has operated in Ventura County since 1968. “We just go in when businesses call us because they are unhappy with Harrison.”