Plastic bag ban survey flawed

A little over a year ago, the Lacey City Council was debating a proposal to rescind a plastic bag ban instituted by the council a few months earlier.

A citizen survey on the ban found that a majority of Lacey residents were opposed to the ban and wanted their plastic bags back. Several members of the Lacey council were caught in a dilemma. Should they listen to their constituents or should they follow the dictates of the Thurston County Solid Waste committee which wanted the ban to stay in place.

Two members of the Lacey City Council – – Jeff Gadman and Mayor Andy Ryder – – felt the original survey was flawed and didn’t think it was accurate enough to gauge public opinion. Michael Steadman, Lacey’s representative on the Solid Waste committee, said the committee was going to do a scientific survey in July (then a year away) to gauge public opinion.

Gadman grasped onto the scientific survey to justify his vote to keep the ban. At that time he said he would follow the the wishes of the community based on the scientific survey. Ryder went along with that reasoning.

It’s now nearly July, the Solid Waste committee is going out for a scientific study – – and wonders of wonders – – it won’t survey the local community as to their desire. According to the Solid Waste staff, the new survey won’t include the public since the previous survey from a year ago, had already reflected the public’s desire.

That survey showed that Lacey residents were opposed to the ban.

So what are those members of the Lacey City Council going to do now? Are they going to accept the original survey which showed that Lacey residents wanted their plastic bags back – – are they going to insist that the new study also survey Lacey residents, again, as to their desires – – or are they just going to ignore the public’s desire and institute their own prejudices.

I suggest a vote of the people. The ban has been in effect for almost a year. Many people have accepted the ban and have adapted. I suspect a vote would show Lacey residents will now support it.