Bergeron Opens New Front In Waste War
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Broward tycoon Ron Bergeron and his partners have fired a new salvo in the battle to break the two-decade long monopoly on garbage disposal.
A high-powered public relations team along with a well-known lobbying firm have rolled out slickly-prepared handouts that trumpet the $10.4 million annual savings taxpayers can expect from competitive bidding.
The material was sent to the media today. It may be sent to elected officials who will make the decision on the waste contract or used in newspaper advertising.
This latest Bergeron maneuver is another round in his fight to open up Broward’s multi-million dollars waste business to competition. In the process, Bergeron expects to win some of the millions for himself.
Ron Bergeron
Wheelabrator Technologies, a subsidiary of Waste Management, has had a monopoly on Broward’s waste disposal since the early 1990s. No one challenged it until Bergeron launched his massive effort more than a year ago.
So far, Bergeron has only been successful in Miramar, which is the only city that has put its disposal contract out to bid.
Bergeron won the bid months ago, but the city has not awarded the contract yet.
According to sources, Wheelabrator lobbyists have convinced Miamar official to stall the contract award despite Bergeron’s low bid.
For Bergeron, waste is just the latest in a series of businesses he has tackled. He is already a leader in road building, real estate, hurricane debris removal and the rock pit industry.
Bergeron’s partners in the disposal business is Sun Recycling, an affiliate of Southern Waste. Southern is a huge garbage firm who recently bought facilities in Broward to handle disposal. Southern Waste and Sun’s founder is Anthony Lomangino, a legend in the garbage business who sold his previous company in New York for nearly $200 million to Waste Management.
Bergeron and Lomangino’s joint venture is called Sun Bergeron.
What Browardbeat.com received today is below. A high resolution version is posted on the Internet here.
March 5th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
The best this guy and his lobbyist team can do is make flyers to hand out??? LOL. Lame at best.
Most of these will go right in the trash cans of the people they are sent to.
March 6th, 2012 at 9:04 am
I hate to say this because I think Ron Bergeron is a ahole who pretends he is Buffalo Bill. He is right on this one. Competition is always better. Its the American way.
March 6th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Blame Scott Cowan for the Wheelabrator contract and blame Ilene Lieberman for trying to renew it. Both are the same self-serving phonies out for themselves. One went to jail and the other is on her way if Satz did his job.
March 6th, 2012 at 9:22 am
@John Henry
It is called an infographic not a flyer, and they have been proven to provide additional web traffic for those who utilize them. They also help to convey complicated issues in a simple easy to read format for people like you to grasp.
March 6th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Do you people seriously think that Alligator Ron will do this for the sake of the people, or rather for his bank account. He is the same as our dear elected Gov. Scott, how much did he pay again to be a Governor? oh right, and HOW much do these guys have in common when it comes to the agenda of making money? please open your eyes everyone, for once lets make some smart choices for the “people” of this county and stop lining the pockets of billionaires
March 6th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
@Duh
Call it whatever fancy name you want–it’s still pretty lame none the less. I wonder how much this guy is paying them to play around on photoshop all day???
“For those who utilize” means that the decision makers have to actually WANT TO utilize it. Sometimes its hard for the decision makers to utilize a info flyer if they are being blinded by a bunch of lobbyists & the money they throw around.
Unfortunatly, the golden rule Broward County Politics is that money talks–pay to play. Alligator Ron should know this by now–he’s not stupid, he knows the drill.
My bet is that 90% of these flyers make it in the trash can within 24hrs of distribution.
March 6th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Let’s see how long you all keep the issue alive and keep talking about it.
March 7th, 2012 at 9:45 am
@John Henry,
So far the “infographic” has 162 Reads on Scribd.com under the name ‘Sun Bergeron Savings to Broward Cities for Waste Disposal’
Plus I also plastered it all over the social web, it will have an impact. I also have a spreadsheet if that is easier for you to comprehend the savings.
I guess all the naysayers think it is OK for Waste Management to bilk the County and Cities and not negotiate in good faith (or behind closed doors)with the ILA for a fair price for disposal so they can spend their profits placing advertisement in Summer Blockbuster movies like Transformers 3.
Thnx Duh.
March 7th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
@ Seth Platt
162 reads–HOLY CRAP!!!! Alert the media!
162 reads out of how many thousands of Broward County Employees and how many millions of Broward County residents??? I bet a 1/4 of those reads came from your office alone. You should call your movement “Occupy Mt. Trashmore.”
Sun Disposal wants the same thing Waste Management wants–the County’s garbage contract monoply. Your just trying to disguise your real intentions under the cloak of “savings” for the average Broward County Taxpayer–giving before you take.
Can you honestly tell me that in the future Sun Disposal isn’t going to establish a long term garbage monoply & bilk the taxpayers as Waste Management is doing? My bet is they are.
Sun Disposal & Waste Management both have the same shady smell–they only differ in name.
March 7th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
This will be good to see what happens in the end of all of this?
March 8th, 2012 at 11:15 am
@John Henry
Yes I can honestly tell you that. Sun Bergeron has offered a price almost $10 below WM. The Cities should be allowed to look at their own best options instead of having to take the poor deal that the RRB has been getting from Waste Management because they think they are the only game in town. The Miramar bid alone has driven down the price of Garbage for the entire County, and both Miramar and Sun Bergeron should be commended.
Competition lowers prices and Broward residents benefit.
201 Reads…
March 8th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
@Seth Platt 162 reads? That’s 160 more than have ever seen anything you’ve acted in. Does Papa George have a dog in this waste hunt?
March 8th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Waste Management/Wheelabrator own the two waste-to-energy burn facilities and the only landfill capable of accepting msw within 150 miles. Is anybody asking where is Sun Bergeron going to take the garbage? Why not cut the middle guy (Sun Bergeron) and deal with the owners of the closest landfill, the same landfill Sun Bergeron is going to use anyways and keep the saving within the Taxpayers?
March 9th, 2012 at 10:47 am
241 Reads
March 17th, 2012 at 10:29 pm
It seems Southern Waste Systems does not like any publicity they do not make themselves.
It has now come down to going after reporters
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bob-norman/-/3223354/9326516/-/325e21/-/index.html
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bob-norman/Garbage-company-owner-s-past-in-NYC-questioned/-/3223354/9427190/-/jy3sgb/-/
Timing could not have been worse, with a City of Miramar Commission meeting scheduled for this coming Tuesday.
FROM BUDDY:
At least one media outlet bit at the anonymous smear.
This comment, by the way, is anonymous and is part of someone’s desperate effort to get this news out. I will let Channel 10 and Mr. or Ms. Anonymous have their say since I believe in open debate. At least Channel 10s Bob Norman puts his name on his posts.
March 20th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
[…] This time, however, Norman was on a public street, and reporting on the garbage war pitting longtime provider Waste Management with would-be newcomer Bergeron Sun. […]
March 28th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
The smartest comment in these responses comes from BettermentofBrowardCounty. What WILL SunBergeron due with the waste and how environmentally sound will they do it? Sure they may separate it for the recyclable pieces, but what happens to all the smelly foul polluting garbage they have to manage. Where will this happen and where will the non-recylcable components end up?…..savings? we’ll see.
Currently, the decomposable components are being burned in a place that generates electricity from it.