Re “Property owners in San Diego have never gotten free trash service” (June 26): In Lisa Mortensen’s letter, she claims that city-provided “free” trash service is a myth. She is right, but only in a limited sense. Government services are never “free.” We all pay for them through taxes.
The unfairness is due to the fact that residents of multiple-unit dwellings must pay for trash collection twice, once through taxes and again to a private trash collector.
She then asks if it would be “terrible to not have basic trash collection as a city service.” No, it wouldn’t be terrible. In fact, it would be an improvement. Everybody would have to pay private trash collectors, not just those in multiple-unit dwellings. That would be much fairer. It would probably also be more efficient.
Trash collection from parks and other public places is indeed a “community benefit,” but it is unclear why trash collection from some private properties is a community benefit, but from others it is not.
— Philip J. Erdelsky, San Carlos