District of Columbia government employees talk about promoting more transparent government & more efficient delivery of government services through their use of Google Apps.
Duration : 0:4:36
Ladies and Gentlemen: If you live in Los Angeles, you’ll be interested in this message; it’s about your city government.
Duration : 0:4:9
water sewer and garbage billing is collected by our city government. Garbage is owned by a private company. You cannot elect to use another waste company or take your own garbage to the dump. You are charged for garbage collection if you have garbage or not. This seems to me as racketeering by a local government. If you don’t pay your garbage bill your water is shut off. I wish challange the city in court. Do I have a case?
Yes, they can, and it’s a common practice. The standard requirement is that residences (not necessarily businesses) use the city contractor.
A lot of people don’t know that city, county, state and federal government are constantly looking for civilian contractors to fulfill the work needed. The process includes bid submission from any company interested, some degree of business background checking, and transparency of process.
There are plenty of arguments for and against, but I haven’t seen one case where a city council was trying to give all trash business to friends or relatives — in fact, that would be illegal.
It’s important to understand what problems the city council is trying to resolve by mandating trash service. Commonly, a city is trying to reduce road maintenance, reduce land fill, increase recycling, and reduce environmental noise and pollution from trucks running all week.
Shutting off water sounds extortionist, and I bet they’re thinking that would force compliance. Not too considerate in this economy. However, they may also be thinking about something that’s happened with other cities where people refused to pay, and would leave their trash piling out on the curb, or toss it in the neighbor’s bins.
For most cities, mandated contract service to residences works, but the concerns from objectors (usually the minority of people who have no benefit or actually suffer greater expense) are fairly uniform and well known.
For example, the elimination of competition can make people worry that if the contractor raises fees, they will have no choice but to pay or have their water cut off. What do you do if you don’t like or need the service?
As you find the answers (or lack of) to your questions, publish them — Internet, city/county newspapers, etc. People in your city will appreciate you sharing your knowledge, because I’m sure you’re not the only one with concerns.
Some exceptions arise, such as a person who is very efficient with recycling having little or no trash, but still having to pay for service.
I do not believe you have a case. On what grounds would you make your case? But do NOT allow my opinion stop you from taking a good look at the legal, economic, environmental and social impact of city ordained trash service, if at least because you just object to feeling robbed of liberty and the near elimination of competitive businesses.
Mostly, though, because you might find better ways of resolving issues which the ordinance is meant to resolve, and/or spearhead amendments for exceptional circumstances such as fixed- and low-income families, rewarding effective recyclers instead of punishing them, etc. Stuff other cities can look at and say, "Wow. That’s awesome. We need to that for our people."
Talk to your city and state attorney general’s offices to determine the legality (it’s free, and you can get the right info about the matter), and maybe a private attorney if you feel you want to explore the case further.
Look at what other cities are doing; both those who have mandate collection, and those who use alternative methods.
One alternative I can think of is mandating collection, requiring waste management companies to only run residential pickup on one day of the week, but allowing citizens to choose from among competitors.
By Suzette Hackney • Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
A Detroit City Council special investigative session into a police whistle-blower lawsuit settlement erupted into a yelling match when President Pro Tem Monica Conyers made claims that she was being disrespected.
The argument began when Conyers asked an independent attorney who was testifying if the council could be sued by Detroit residents for approving the $8.4-million lawsuit settlement.
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said: “They can sue you; I voted no.”
Conyers told Watson to stop interrupting and disrespecting her. She added: “We all know how you voted; you don’t have to keep repeating it.”
Moments later, Conyers interrupted Council President Ken Cockrel as he was questioning Carl Edwards, the Detroit attorney. Cockrel reminded Conyers that he had the floor and banged his gavel repeatedly.
Conyers railed: “You’re not my Daddy. You’re not going to disrespect me. Grow up! Control your house and learn how to treat women.”
Cockrel told Conyers that she was “one to talk.”
Conyers also made repeated mocking reference to Cockrel as Shrek, the green, grumpy and rotund ogre from the animated film.
As the council members yelled at each other, residents attending the hearings yelled, as well. “You’re disrespecting the citizens!” and “This is a shame!”
Cockrel took a quick recess to regain order before then breaking for lunch.
Duration : 0:1:41
Security cameras of City District Government Karachi covered some Road Accident videos and shared with public for driving awareness……. Salute to CDGK and Mr. Mustafa Kamal….
Duration : 0:2:38
What do I need to take consideration when supplying the City Government? I live in Houston, TX and my company is minority owned and operated.
Sorry, forgot about what I sell. We are one of the largest industrial grade TIRE importer and distributor in the Central Region.
The City of Houston website explains what a business must do to supply for the city government
Guide to Doing Business with the City of Houston http://www.houstontx.gov/purchasing/doing_business.htm
The first step is to complete a Supplier Registration Form http://purchasing.houstontx.gov/registration_form.aspx with Strategic Purchasing; and File an application for certification with the Affirmative Action and Contract Compliance Division .http://www.houstontx.gov/aacc/index.html . Once your certification is approved by Affirmative Action, you will be listed in the MWDBE Directory http://houston.b2gnow.com/FrontEnd/VendorSearchPublic.asp?TN=Houston_Diversity as a Certified MWDBE Supplier. This process takes about four weeks to complete. This office can be reached by calling 713-837-9000.
I trust that you have gotten the certifications from SBA to show you are a minority owned and operated business. If not, get 8(a)Business Development certification from SBA http://www.sba.gov/8abd/