Jim Sack says:

I agree with Douglas B, a famous local guy who should be writing for this column, too. My applause to Ben Lanka for ferreting this out. I will guess the interconnections will look like a small bowl of spaghetti, once the complete set of ties are displayed. It is the old boy network at work. But, to a degree this can be expected: Fort Wayne is relatively small, the interconnections, naturally, are all over the place. We are all one or two degrees separated from each other. But, that is no excuse for Tim not being up front, and for the mayor not vetoing a contract that is tainted by the impression of nepotism. If the profits Jerry Henry will make on this are of greater valuing that the good reputation of the Henry family, a family that has done so very, very much for the city, then let Tom sign the contract. His dad will be watching.

Jack says:

This is ridiculous! This is why Fort Wayne is so slow to grow, so slow to catch up with the rest of the state, so slow to make positive changes; “conservatives resistant to change”.

Dan you must have not paid attention during school? Competition is a GOOD thing for an economy! The fact that National Serv-All has had control over the City of Fort Wayne’s waste disposal for so long is terrifying. It is a MONOPOLY. The exact definition. One major player in a narrow market. And since Fort Wayne does not and will never have privatized waste management, changes need to be made every so often to keep the steady flow of growth. Also, remember that NSA is owned by Republic Services, the 2nd largest waste management corporation in the country. Those profits are not going back into our local community. With Earth First they will!

You ask anyone that’s been working at serv-all for the last 5 years, and they will tell you that that company has fallen down into a spiraling hole. Run by bad management, brought in by a NATIONAL CORPORATION. A friend of mine that worked at serv-all recently left because he was fed up with the way things were being run. Take a look at their garbage trucks around town; they don’t look to good do they.

Serv-All has had it’s time, it’s time for a new player. The “better” National Serv-All was run by the Walbridge family, not Republic.

Oh hey. Forgot to mention also that Gregg Walbridge was actually the one that implemented that “innovative” methane pipeline to GM while he was a consultant for Serv-All after he left. You can ask Serv-All about that, but I’m sure they won’t admit to it.

Dan you have your story so wrong you cannot even begin to understand. The people involved with this project are successful businessmen that have helped this city more than once! You turn them away and soon there will be no one to help you. And don’t expect Republic to lend a helping hand to the City of Fort Wayne.

Jack says:

Those things are all assumptions that have been made by the media and people like you commenting on these blogs. You have no idea why these people are connected. You just assume that because it’s the Mayor’s brother there is nepotism involved (Which by the way he is no longer involved with EarthFirst). Jon Bragalone and Gregg Walbridge have been friends for years and I know both of them personally. You are too quick to judge.

And have you seen the proposal yet? No. So how would you know anything except what the media says. You have been influenced by the “Blue Ribbon” team paid for by Republic, just like many others, but you didn’t know any better.

Alfredo says:

Jack,

Henry may not have any ownership in Ef any longer, but he’s still very much involved. Where do you think EF’s office will be located? At Jerry Henry’s recycling station.

As far as Bragalone involvement, in New York Italian’s are very involved in trash removal. Welcome to Indiana’s Little Italy.

Why you so testa di cazzo?

Jack says:

Doug,

No that was not an assumption, the fact that you think Bragalone influenced the vote through Tim Pape, that was an assumption. Like I said before Bragalone and Walbridge are good friends and business partners, that is the most likely reasoning for a share in Earth First, not that he works with a councilman.

Alfredo,

So you’re saying that because he’s Italian it’s assumed he’d be in the trash business. Come on really. What a stereotype.

AWB,

That’s really weird and creepy that you tracked down my IP to see where I was. Second, I may be in Florida now, but I lived in Fort Wayne my entire life, worked for Serv-All when it was ran by Gregg and when I heard what was being said I had to interject.

And, really though I know you have obviously been doing your homework; digging into public records, figuring out these “assumed” political connections, but you are still missing a “very” key part of this story that no one has figured out yet. I’m not one to tell, but I’m sure you will figure it out soon enough. This will be much easier when everything is in the past.

Jack says:

Regardless. You feel it’s necessary to reveal to everyone that I’m in Florida. As publisher of a blog I don’t think it’s very professional or right to reveal to other people the location of a commentator. It’s fine if you keep it to yourself, but to publish that on post for others to see is not right. It doesn’t matter where I am. I am just as entitled to give my input on this situation as you or anyone else.

Mike says:

I’m not with the JG or either trash company, but I like competition. Gregg Walbridge grew up in the trash business, as Jack has clearly pointed out he has the knowledge and expertise to start up a business of this size in this industry.. and if you don’t believe me, just go talk to his dad, I’m pretty sure he knows more than anyone in the area about the trash business.

I do find it interesting however that the story is focused on the non-story of the Henry brothers and ignoring that the Walbridge brothers are actually competing against each other here…..

Jerry’s involvement is because of his business. He’s in the materials recycling business, and from what I’ve gathered he’s not a small potato. So if you’re going to start a trash/recycling business, wouldn’t it make good business sense to find someone already in the business to help you out? So he got a piece of the pie for his help, that’s what businessmen do.. they get pieces of businesses they think will succeed.

I think the city needs to definitely be more open about things, but I think this contract is a joke to get all up in a tizzy about. Besides, Earth First is also proposing to go from those multi color separate bins to just one bin where they do the sorting. So they are trying to make it easier on the residents and came in below the other guys contract.

Hasn’t Washington been telling us we need to invest in America? Well, in keeping with that theme wouldn’t it be better to invest in a company based out of Fort Wayne rather than one out of Arizona?