The Editor,
Re. “Locked garbage bins will not keep the bears away” (Letters, The Tri-City News, Aug. 26).
Congratulations to letter writer Dave Carruthers for the excellent points raised about the fallacies around garbage rules these days.
Our home is located off the top of Coast Meridian Road in northeast Coquitlam and bears are frequently sighted on our property, and about once per week, they attempt to get into our empty grey can.
We live within a block of the Hyde Creek riparian area and also close to the forest/urban interface, so this is to be expected. (I notified Coquitlam’s engineering department months ago that the gravity locks on their experimental garbage cans are not bear-proof.)
My assessment of the problem is that it clearly rests with Smithrite’s collection schedules and indifference on the part of Coquitlam city staff to the problems we were having.
In previous winters, our recycling was picked up between 9 and 9:30 a.m. Now, the pick-up schedule is a couple of minutes past 7 a.m., meaning I have to lug out recycling in the dark during winter months, and this presents a danger that I might encounter a bear when doing so.
Repeated efforts to get representatives of Coquitlam’s engineering department or Smithrite to at least explain why we have to undertake the risk — not just the inconvenience — of lugging out recycling and garbage in the dark have gone without justification on their parts and, of course, we are now heading into a period of the year when 7 a.m. is a time of darkness.
Maggie Fankboner, Coquitlam
