The Last Straw?
October 29, 2022
When you received your water bill in Oct. 2022 you also received an insert which reads.
Single – Use Plastic Straw Ban. If it’s underlined it’s to draw readers attention to what I consider important.
WPB is taking action: Ordinance 4836-19 is in effect
“As part of the City’s effort to reduce plastic litter, beautify our community, protect native fauna, and lessen the economic impact of litter abatement, the sale, use and distribution of single-use plastic straws and stirrers in the City of West Palm Beach is prohibited. Do your part to help – kindly remind businesses that these items are not allowed in our city. Violations are considered Class 111 and may incur $125 fine per occurence .{SIC} Our goal is not to collect fines, but to keep plastic out of the environment. For more info or to report a violation, please email Sustainability@wpb,org. Visit wpb.org/plasticfree to find a guide to the ordinance along with recommended and allowed alternatives.”
The city wants you to report violators. When I read that my mind went straight to a city employee named Jason McCarty, a city employee who was deputy chief of information technology and was fired in 2021 for smoking marijuana — even though he been authorized by his doctor to use it legally for medical reasons.
McCarty, a 50-year-old father of two was tested last month after two employees from the city’s risk management department thought he acted suspiciously as he walked past them during lunch, claimed to smell pot near his car and reported him.
McCarty denies smoking pot at work. He had held his job for five years and had a spotless record, but the city has a strict policy against marijuana use, even when used legally and outside working hours.
In 2019, the city revised page 13 of its 15-page employee drug-use policy to read, “The use of marijuana by city employees, including medical marijuana, with or without a prescription, is prohibited.” A prescription is not accepted as a valid explanation for an employee’s positive drug test result.
The policy also says any employee who reasonably suspects a co-worker of illegal drug use and doesn’t report it can be fired.
So the city wants me to report if McDonald or Wendy’s uses plastic straws when I order a soda, city employees who don’t report a co-workers can be fired. Wasn’t that a one time requirement in Nazi Germany?
Of course it’s about the $125 fine, along with doubling parking fees, raising fees for outside dining.
If you believe City employees, and I do, they are working under hostile working conditions and many employees endure the offensive conduct as it becomes a condition of keeping their job. People have difficulty trusting each other and work in an environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile or abusive.
If the city wants to keep plastic straws and bottles out of the environment go to Tallahassee and ask that plastic bottles in Fla, have a return policy. Simply done?
Buy a case of water with 24 bottles, and pay a one time deposit of $.05. 24X5 = $1.20. Return the bottle to the store and receive $1.20 in return.
You will not find anyone walking down the street or along the ocean tossing nickles around, especially in these times when administration is raising fees. Next will be a cover charge to attend City Commission Meetings.
Halloween coming, please remind children NOT to eat their treats until parents inspect the candy. Bad people out there. Keep kids safe. Read channel 5 story below
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/west-palm-beach/west-palm-beach-fires-employee-over-legal-medical-marijuana-use
The end