THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100229
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
A plan to stop municipal commercial trash hauls on the resort strip by March 1 has been put on hold for three weeks by the City Council.
The delay gives oceanfront business operators, who get the pickup service, time to negotiate a new deal either with the city or a private hauler.
At the request of Henry Richardson, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel and Motel Association, council members agreed Tuesday to defer the issue until an alternative trash haul plan is in place.
Resort business leaders like Richardson and Rick Anoia, chairman of the Resort Leadership Council, are lobbying to keep the city service because it is reliable, efficient and equitable.
Anoia, especially, is leery of placing daily resort refuse collection in private hands. He said he fears daily service will drop to once or twice a week, allowing smelly garbage and unsightly trash to accumulate in a tourist center in which the city already has invested $63 million to beautify.
``It's a real concern at the Oceanfront . . . because of impressions,'' he said. ``You can't have trash, garbage, Dumpsters, smell, stink and liquid all up and down the street.
``That's a negative message we're sending out to the guests of Virginia Beach.''
City officials and resort merchants are trying to work out a deal whereby either the city continues the trash hauls under a raised fee structure, or a single private contractor does the job at a fixed annual cost. A recommendation should be back before the council by the first of March. by CNB