There is money in Windsor's 2017 budget to help prevent illegal dumping, but some say it won't do much in the neighbourhoods that need it the most.
During budget deliberations Monday night, city council agreed to bring back bulk item collection. Under the program, residents will be asked to buy a $20 voucher, and a private contractor will pick up their old appliances and couches. The program would cost the city $217,000, but the vouchers will bring the cost down to $37,000.
Karlene Nielsen with the Ford City Neighbourhood Renewal Program calls it a step in the right direction, but she had hoped councillors would adopt a fully subsidized program at no cost to residents.
"I think that's where it needs to go, so we have the most compliance and the greatest reduction in dumping," she says.
While illegal dumping is a concern everywhere in Windsor, it is a bigger problem in older areas with alleyways where lower-income families dependent on public transit live. That's neighbourhoods like Ford City and downtown, where Sarah Cipkar works as a community development coordinator with the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative.
Cipkar says illegal dumping doesn't just make alleyways unsightly; she says it is unsafe.
"Rodents and other animals make their homes [there]," she says. "There's also greater potential for arsons."
Cipkar says even with the voucher program; areas hit hardest by dumping will still experience it.
"If I'm a resident moving into an apartment on a fixed income, and I get there and realize there are several pieces of furniture, maybe even contaminated with bedbugs, I would not be able to afford a $20 voucher for five or ten items," says Cipkar.
A curbside program operated by city workers would cost taxpayers $239,600. Currently, the city spends over $76,000 a year to clean up public properties.
The city has not offered a bulk item pickup program for at least 30 years.
- With files from Maureen Revait.
