Life Costs Less Just Across the Tracks in Glendale

THE HIGH COST OF living in the Big City, from a report on LA City Council's vote to raise trash rates to $36/month: Atwater Village resident Dennis Keene said the council is ignoring the cumulative effect of fees, charges and taxes. Keene said he paid $639 last year in city charges on his cell phone, land-line phone, cable, natural gas, sewer service, trash collection and electric bills. The trash-fee increase will add $350 a year, he said, for a total more than the $674 he pays in property tax for the duplex he bought in 1972. The City of Glendale, just a stroll away, collects trash and recycling for as little as $16.96/month.