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Dear Editor

The Recycling Center provides needed services to both Johnson City and Northern Blanco County. Since people in the county also use the Recycling Center, why aren’t the operating costs shared between Johnson City and Blanco County?

With the Recycling Center closed I can visualize refrigerators, water heaters, old computers, rusted metal, plastic bottles, broken glass bottles, soda/beer cans, broken toys, and assorted junk scattered around Johnson City and Blanco County. Vacant lots will be especially inviting to junk collection. The junk will not only be a health hazard, but a safety hazard. There is a real danger of a child being hurt or trapped in an old refrigerator or freezer. Are we willing to pay the price of a child’s life or serious injury to save a few dollars?

Johnson City has restaurants, art galleries, boutiques and etc. that rely on tourist dollars. Junk sitting around Johnson City is certainly not attractive, nor inviting to tourists. Why isn’t the Chamber of Commerce on the band wagon to keep the Recycling Center open and operating?

Without the Recycling Center, how many more people will burn trash? Burn bans are common. We do not need the additional dangers of unnecessary burn piles or pits.

The Recycling Center provides the boxes used by the Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry for food distribution every month. It would be extremely difficult to distribute food without boxes to put it in.

The office space at the Recycling Center is small, outdated, cramped, and unusually configured. How much money will be needed to refurbish the facility for another office? I cannot imagine what offices are being proposed to move in there.

Jerry and Betty Charniak