Two days before St. Paul voters say yes or no to organized trash collection, both sides have found something to agree on: This bruising fight goes way beyond garbage.
"I think it is emblematic of a last gasp of a St. Paul that doesn't exist anymore," said Javier Morillo, chairman of a Yes For St. Paul committee, about opposition to citywide trash pickup. "In St. Paul, we are used to not needing fancy things, that the way things have always been is fine. This debate has come to crystallize that."
Tom Goldstein, a former mayoral candidate and spokesman for the Vote No campaign, says people are enraged by the City Council's decision to block a public vote, despite 6,000 signatures on a petition, until being ordered to do so by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
"It has become a referendum on the mayor's leadership and the City Council's leadership, because they basically said we're going to fight you on this all the way to the Supreme Court," Goldstein said.
On Tuesday, a ballot question will ask whether to keep or scrap the city ordinance establishing organized trash collection. Supporters have praised it for standardizing rates and reducing garbage truck traffic. Others say it has limited their disposal options and hiked their bills. If voters reject trash collection and its quarterly billing system, Mayor Melvin Carter says the city will have to impose a massive property tax hike to pay the haulers, whose contract is still binding.
Morillo and other Vote Yes supporters say the ordinance may be imperfect, but it's an important early step to addressing much bigger issues, such as climate change and economic equity. A study by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency showed that organized collection could reduce emissions from garbage truck traffic in St. Paul by 70%.
Those urging a No vote say the ordinance is yet another example of City Hall not listening to many of the city's residents. A good portion of the backlash has been directed at Carter. Last month, officials said the mayor has received threatening and racist messages regarding the upcoming vote.
On Friday, Carter spokesman Peter Leggett sounded a conciliatory tone, in contrast with a year of lawsuits, rallies and acrimony.