The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon will soon morph into a giant flea market, with an array of second-hand appliances and other items to be given away across the city. On the weekend of May 25 and 26, citizens are invited to place giveaway items, which would otherwise be thrown away, in their front yards. Residents will then be able to drive around and retrieve items of interest _ or as Coun. Colleen McKee puts it, 'go shopping.' City council announced the first-time event last week, borrowing the concept from cities like Winnipeg and Burlington, Ontario. It will help residents get rid of unwanted items in light of the city's cancellation of the annual door-to-door spring clean-up of disposables. The event will officially begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 25 and run until midnight on Sunday, May 26. All items must include a sign indicating they are giveaways, and placement in the front yard is crucial. The items should not be obvious garbage, either, having some potential use to others. Coun. McKee chose a more colourful description for the items: 'not really dump-worthy.' Items not picked up at the end of the event will have to be removed by the owner within an allotted time, as the city will not do so. See 'Piano' on pg. Continued from pg. Coun. McKee said she got the idea from a neighbour who left out an old piano to be picked up by the city as part of the spring clean-up. Someone saw the piano and asked if they could haul it away and keep it _ a welcome request. 'So she got rid of her piano, it cost her nothing and it was all good,' Coun. McKee said. While the idea is to give items away, nothing will preclude people from charging for items they think they can sell. Specific guidelines for the event are to be advertised in an upcoming edition of The Reminder. Council announced the event following criticism from concerned resident Dennis Hydamaka over the spring clean-up cancellation. 'What happens to the low-income (people) and the seniors that do not have trucks?' said Hydamaka. 'There are piles of old appliances and garbage, particularly, I've noticed, in the back lanes in the uptown area.' 'Cost-cutting' Mayor George Fontaine defended the cancellation, calling it 'an attempt to do some cost-cutting.' For her part, Coun. Karen MacKinnon hopes 'neighbours will help neighbours' to ensure everything finds its way to the landfill. 'Like when we were young and we didn't have two vehicles or a truck, neighbours and friends helped us take stuff,' she said. While the city will not be picking up items from yards, it is exempting private individuals from tipping fees at the landfill for the period of May 17 to June 10 inclusive. The city expects to save at least $30,000 by cancelling the clean-up, though it's possible the actual cost would have been $10,000 or $20,000 higher than that.
