Fast forward to November 2007. Garbage is back in the news as the City Council tries to get to the bottom of this stinking mess.

The latest controversy started September 1 when FEMA decided the heaps of construction debris it had been collecting and removing for free were no longer storm debris but were now remodeling debris and not covered under the Stafford-Simpson Act.

Citizens contacted their council members. The council checked the contracts with Richard and Metro and discovered a provision requiring the pickup of "unlimited bulky waste." Problem solved or so it would seem, but not so fast. Richard and Metro objected, claiming that "construction debris" was not part of their deal. The City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields, checked the contract and agreed, so Veronica White, the mayor's Sanitation Director intervened on their behalf.

Apparently the contracts and the Request for Proposals which preceded the contracts did not mean what they said. The new city ordinance directs citizens to use the new trash cans and limits additional bulky waste to 25 pounds. Construction has always required the contractor to arrange for a dumpster and private disposal.

But that takes us back to the RFP and the summer of 2006. Only Richard and Metro bid on the RFP. With Waste Management declining to stay in the city or even temporarily extending its contract, the city was in a bind. Either it took the new high priced bids or trash would start accumulating on January 1, 2007. Waste Management, River Parishes and other major operators had declined to bid saying the terms of the deal were too demanding. If terms like "unlimited bulky waste" kept established operators from bidding and limited the field to high priced startups with local political connections, were the people of New Orleans well served by contracts that cost twice as much per houshold than is being paid in Jefferson Parish.

This seems like the sort of thing that our new Inspector General will want to examine as he begins taking names and cleaning up the city. The council heard his plea for a reasonable $3.2 million budget and a staff of 24. They should double it!

What's the upshot of all this? When the council tried to hold hearings they were rebuffed again as the race card was played. Community activists representing African-American interests, particularly the Southern Christian Leadership Conference showed up at the meetings in protest. They argued that Richard and Metro were singled out by the council since they were black owned. They threatened an economic boycott of the city. Why SCLC chose this issue to engage over baffles me.

The council was conciliatory. Rather than calmly reminding everyone that they were obligated to review all expenses and digging in their heels, the council suggested that everyone in the room calm down and sign a letter to FEMA and Congress asking that FEMA resume free pick up of construction debris. This response suggests undisclosed undercurrents. Perhaps this bit of theater was all just a push to get more federal aid.

Finally in her budget review hearings Veronica White announced that since more people were moving back to the city she needed to increase the payments to Richard and Metro. Apparently the mayor was not happy with this suggestion and had not included it in his overall budget package, zeroing out her increases instead.

Do you ever wonder why the City of New Orleans paying more for trash pickup per person and per pickup than any parish in the metro area, the South and the nation? And where is transparency, city government is continuing to act like it is under seige protecting itself and its secrets. And finally the press isn't helping by its continual sniping.