WHY EXACTLY is the City of Kamloops not issuing fines to people who put garbage out the night before pick-up?
While the city has a WildsafeBC program and fines for residents who leave out garbage cans overnight, Van Damme said it only takes one scofflaw to create a problem. Some residents also don’t have a shed or garage in which to lock up cans. Research has been done on ways to lock city garbage bins.
I searched for an article (without success), however I recall a recent news or radio story which stated the City of Kamloops would be inspecting garbage and re-cycling cans. This was to ensure that we were not putting the wrong things in to them … and the threat of fines was being put forward.
Personally, I would much rather have City bylaw officers headed out in the evening and handing out tickets to people putting their garbage out as soon as the sun goes down. In fact, they should be doing it between midnight and 2am … AND … and knocking on doors to personally hand out the tickets to householders.
I live in Juniper, and can guarantee that a large number of residents here, put their garbage and recycling, tins out as soon as it gets dark.
I know it will never happen, however instead of fines, it’s too bad Conservation Officers can’t force these ignorant individuals to be there when they have to put these bears down. A little puking, at the sight of it, might just wake these people up to the fact they are creating the problem.
Wherever you live in B.C. … and this is definitely not just a Kamloops problem … we have a responsibility to ensure that we are not creating the problem of bears becoming ‘garbage addicted‘.
It’s just my opinion, however there is NO excuse for laziness, and for not ensuring bears do not have access to our garbage. Would you agree?
In Kamloops … I’m Alan Forseth.
Alan Forseth is a Kamloops resident and former member of the Reform Party of Canada, the B.C. Reform Party and the B.C. Conservative Party. His blog is My Thoughts on Politics and More.
We’ve done this for years: FREEZE food scraps and then put them into the garbage container the morning of garbage day pickup.
Our garbage container does not stink like rotting food and (touch wood) we feel we are doing our best in not attracting bears.
Homo Sapiens should have better reasoning power than seems to be evident.
Please see my comment on the article you sight.”garbage pointed to as culprit in bears deaths.”
It’s all so unnecessary. The bear is not at fault.
As much as 50 percent of the households in the Links subdivision in Upper Aberdeen put the garbage cans out the night before. Some of these people are apparently upstanding citizens, doctors, lawyers and the like. In some cases the cans are on the street by supper time the day before pick up. Some of these people can’t get their sorry asses out of bed in time for the 7.00 am pickup.
Alan, for the life of me I do not understand why the bylaws are not aggressively enforced on a constant basis. Hopefully, the City monitors the articles in the Armchair Mayor and will take early and active measures to help protect these wild animals.
Thank you for writing about it in your column.
Great column, and I agree with you 100%. Stupid people do stupid things, then whine about the consequences. Like you say Alan, they should be dragged out with the COs, and made to watch the executions.
Ignorant, careless, lazy individuals…like mushrooms in the forest in the fall after heavy rain…they are everywhere and becoming the norm.
Not only with their garbage but with their dogs, their unmuffled two and four wheels vehicles, their hideous front yards landscaping, their speeding and other various driving nuisances they cause…
What can the city do? Look the other way thus far, because that’s the easy way!