LEWISTON, Maine — Lewiston mayoral candidate Ben Chin is opposing a city plan to charge residents $2 for each trash bag they use.
The issue is expected to be decided at a city referendum next year. But Chin said he objects to the strategy as a way to increase recycling rates, which consistently hover between 10 and 12 percent in Lewiston.
Chin said he’s met hundreds of residents who see the trash bag fee as too regressive. At a news conference outside City Hall, Chin said he’s started a petition opposing the measure and has already gathered more than a hundred signatures.
“I’m proud to speak today on behalf of all the people that I’ve talked to at the door and signing this petition who are opposed to this fee,” he said. “Mayor [Robert] Macdonald and I may disagree on many things, but this is one issue that isn’t about the right or the left, it’s just about whether you’re listening to people in the community or not.
“I don’t believe we should fund our fire department just by people whose houses burn down,” he said. “I don’t think we should fund our police department just by sky-high traffic tickets. This is a regressive policy. Rich people don’t care how much they pay for garbage bags. Working class people do. Clearly, the whole point of this is to target people who are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Chin said Macdonald supports the fee and has joined with a majority of the City Council in voting to spend $30,000 on a public education campaign to market it.
But Macdonald said his vote reflected his interest in giving voters information about the trash bag option and he remains neutral on the issue.
“The council has already made it very clear that this is going out to referendum, and it’s gonna be the people of Lewiston who decide this issue, not us, not the council — and I shouldn’t say us because I really don’t have a vote in this,” he said. “I’m the mayor. I just run the meetings.”
Macdonald is seeking a third term as mayor in Lewiston. He’s being challenged by Chin and three other candidates.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public Broadcasting Network.