Monday, December 12, 2005

 

Why do some citizens want tax money for ramp? [to Republic Services' Countywide Landfill]

Letter to the Editor,
Canton Repository
Monday, December 12, 2005

Why do the citizens of Stark and Tuscarawas counties want their tax money to be used to build a ramp for a multibillion-dollar company — Republic Services, headquartered in Florida (“New group seeks ramp to landfill,” Dec. 3)?

Why does Republic Services not pay for its own ramp, as promised. It is their landfill — Countywide landfill — and it is the trucks entering their landfill that cause the road safety hazards that citizens are complaining about. Why not ask law enforcement to cite the landfill trucks for their unsafe driving, littering and being overweight? Why should our tax money pay for a ramp that people claim is needed for safety reasons, when increased enforcement could solve many of the safety problems?

Even more disturbing is the fact that existing infrastructure in Ohio is in disrepair, such as the Interstate 77 interchange at Strasburg. Resources are scarce, and public funding to pay for a landfill ramp is corporate welfare. Republic Services should fund the ramp, not the hard-working, cash-strapped citizens of Stark and Tuscarawas counties.

Kay Huth, Bolivar