Collection Bins are Here to Stay

The City Council voted 6 to 1 at their most recent meeting to allow Collection Bin enterprises to continue to operate within Torrance.  The vote of approval will end a moratorium on new bins that the Council had previously put in place.

Councilmember Ashcraft cast the lone dissenting vote to the measure.  While commenting on the subject, Ashcraft noted that she had not heard from one resident in the community that was in favor of the bins, but that she had received many phone calls and e-mails from residents opposed to them.  In previous meetings on the subject Ashcraft had expressed her opinion that the bins were a blight on the community and that Torrance should ban them as other surrounding cities have done.

Councilmember Barnett observed that the bins had been appearing as if by magic in the night as unscrupulous operators would drop them in various locations throughout the City without permission.  Possibly due to this concern, he confessed that he initially felt similar to Ashcraft.   He admitted, however, that he has since been persuaded that regulations drawn up by City were sufficient to alleviate his concerns.

Some of those regulations approved by the Council include imposing a maximum limit to the number of bins allowed to operate within the City at 100 and requiring that each bin must be at least 750 feet apart from the next closest bin.  The City will also require the operators to pay a fee of approximately $1600 dollars per bin on an annual basis for a license to operate within the City.

During the aforementioned moratorium period, City Staff acknowledged that the number of bins placed illegally within the City increased substantially.  The proliferation of these illegal bins that occurred during the moratorium period raises questions as to whether City staff has enough resources available to enforce the sensible regulations imposed by the Council.  Those questions may be what spurred Ashcraft to insist the Council receives an update on the matter sometime next year.

Ashcraft presented herself during the recent campaign as an independently minded voice.  She is beginning to assert herself as such by offering a dissenting viewpoint from the rest of her colleagues on the Council on this issue and on the vote with regard to whether the City should join the U.S. Conference of Mayors that occurred last week.