A few choice words for the City

What gives? I went to the dump yesterday and tried to deposit some refuse, as any good Tacoma resident is allowed to do for free. But apparently I am not fully a resident because I live in a multiple family dwelling.

SayWA?

Here's the deal, as I learned it after a few calls this morning: According to the Tacoma City Ordnance 12.09.130.3 anyone living in a tri-plex or larger must pay the commercial rate to use the dump. This seems to be the provision that they enforce because the next paragraph, 12.09.130.4, says that owners of townhouses and condominiums don't have to pay commercial rates and pay resident rates (ie, nothing).

Unfortunately they don't define what the difference is anywhere but it seems to come down to, "Do you pay garbage in your own name or does someone else?" In my case, the Condo Assocation pays the garbage bill for all four units, which makes me ... commercial?

I don't get the logic. Why single out people who live in condos and apartments? I pay for my garbage through my condo dues, even if my name isn't on the account. For a city that refuses to seek large-scale annexation policies, the only way for us to grow bigger is by growing denser, and that means more condos and apartments. And the residents of those condos and apartments shouldn't have to pay more for services than suburbanites.