Discussion Planned on City’s Trash Collections

Hoping to stimulate public discussion of a ballot measure that would require businesses to pay for trash collection, City Council members said Friday that they will raise the issue at their meeting Monday.

“It’s a good way of giving it some public exposure so people will know exactly what they are voting on,” Councilman Dennis D. O’Neil said Friday.

Known as Measure Q, the ballot proposal states that the city is responsible only for collecting residents’ garbage.

If the measure passes, businesses would be charged for trash collection or would have to arrange to have their garbage picked up by private contractors.

It also states that residents and businesses in areas annexed by the city will have to arrange their own trash pickup.

Six of the seven members of the council say they favor the measure because it would save the city money.

Mayor John W. Hedges is the sole dissenter on the council. He said Friday that he opposes Measure Q mainly because it would harm the city’s ability to annex the Newport Coast area south of Corona del Mar, which officials have said they hope to do eventually.

Newport Coast residents, he said, would be less likely to vote in favor of annexation if they felt they were not being given equal treatment by the city.

“I think this measure is very shortsighted,” Hedges said.

The council meets at 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall, 3300 W. Newport Blvd. Information: (714) 644-3017.