Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander called Tuesday for his colleagues to look at what it would take to pull out of the city’s troubled waste franchise system, known as RecycLA.

Englander said the program, which serves roughly 70,000 businesses, apartment buildings and condominium customers, is “failing to deliver the basic city service of reliable trash pickup.” His proposal, which heads to a council committee for review, instructs city lawyers to show the steps needed to exit the initiative.

“There comes a time when we must recognize that the fault lies not with the service providers but with the program itself,” Englander said in a statement.

The proposal, introduced as a motion on the council floor, comes nearly a week after council members complained during a six-hour hearing about soaring bills, missed collections and other problems with RecycLA. One called the program “an embarrassment,” while another said the rollout was “a hot mess.”

Englander, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley, is the first on the council to broach the possibility of pulling out of RecycLA. But other council members are signaling that they want to retain the program, which has drawn huge support from labor leaders, environmental groups and Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Councilman Paul Krekorian, who signed Englander’s proposal on Tuesday, said he is not looking to exit the initiative. In an interview, the councilman said he signed it to obtain options for ending the contracts of trash haulers who offer poor customer service.

“My perspective is, everyone who has a franchise needs to be held accountable,” Krekorian said.

Councilman Mike Bonin intends to vote for Englander’s proposal “to hear if exiting the program is a viable option,” according to his spokesman, David Graham-Caso. But he too expressed doubts about pulling the plug.

“While he wants all options on the table, [Bonin’s] strong preference would be to fix the problems with the program instead of killing the program entirely, because he believes strongly in the objectives of RecycLA,” Graham-Caso said.

To read the full story, visit http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-los-angeles-trash-exit-20180213-story.html.

 

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