The purpose of a landfill is to provide a safe place for garbage to be taken and covered. We need landfills. We need to have safely operated landfills that don’t harm the communities that neighbor them.

While it can be nice and good for a community, it isn’t the purpose of a landfill to provide funding for community programs. Anytime I read a comment about how much money a landfill is giving to a community, I think that is sure a strange way to run a business.

I don’t care, and many in Val Verde and the surrounding areas don’t care, what Chiquita has given the community. They just want the place to be operated safely and in accordance with county, state and federal regulations and laws. A lot of documentation has been provided that they have often not done that.

“But Darryl,” you say, “look at all the scholarships, grants, sports programs and whatever else Chiquita gives away.” Really? Every truck from every place that sends trucks to Chiquita pays a fee to dump there. All those “giveaway” programs are being paid for. Trust the bottom line. Waste Connection (the landfill operator) isn’t going to “give” without getting a lot more in return.

We want a dump that does its job without trying to look like it’s giving something away. Nothing is free. All of those handouts get paid for by increased fees to dump the trash. Do you think they do it because they “love the community?” No. They do it to buy support now and later for future projects.

How plain can it be?

The car dealerships in the SCV give a lot to the various charities and sports teams and you name it. Realtors do it, too. I don’t think any one company in the SCV pays out anything near what Chiquita pays out. This year alone, there was $20,000 to the Val Verde Community Advisory Committee and another $340,000 to the Val Verde Community Benefits Funding Committee. There are other charities and sponsorships they give to. Between cash and payment in kind, I would estimate that this year, Chiquita gave away roughly $500,000. If the expansion is approved and the new benefit fund arrangements for Val Verde and Castaic go into effect, the number approaches $1 million a year.

And those who send trash there are paying for it. Trust me on this, folks: In America, no corporation is going to just give away money like Chiquita is doing now and proposes to do in the future – at least not a corporation the size of Waste Connection. They give the money by charging just a little bit more for each load.

That is how they do it. Just like General Motors and the other big guys.

I sure wish they would just do their job. Collect the trash. Bury the trash. Monitor and correct the smells. Control the dust. Make a little bit of electricity from the methane produced from the rotting trash already buried. Everything else they do is icing on a very stinky cake.

Another concern are the racist comments that have been sent in response to what I’ve been writing. Those remarks get removed as soon as they’re spotted, if they make it that far. The really threatening ones get forwarded to the Sheriff’s Department for their consideration and investigation if necessary. Most email addresses are pretty easy to trace to an originator. I’m sure the LASD can trace them better. Those types of comments are just plain sick, and they have noting to do with the debate over the landfill.

So keep the comments clean and on track about how you agree or disagree. Facts, folks. Documentation, too.

That goes for anything you might want to comment on in any media. If you called a radio station and wanted to speak on the air, you are asked to keep your comments civil. Many talk radio stations have a delay built in so someone can hit the “bleep” button and keep the words somewhat civil. I’m sure The Signal, KTHS and the Los Angeles Times have similar standards.

When it comes to a landfill, be it Chiquita Canyon or any other, all we want is a safely run operation. An operation that is safe from toxic material in the air and water around it. Safe and efficient without a smell that can choke a vulture.

It isn’t the money Val Verde wants. They want their community back. They don’t want Castaic to control them, either. It isn’t the money. If it were, the expansion would already have been started.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].