Taormina Industries Inc

Republic Industries Inc., a fast-growing conglomerate run by multi-billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, said Wednesday it is acquiring one of California's largest waste management companies as part of an ambitious plan to expand its waste business throughout the West. Taormina Industries Inc. has agreed to merge into Republic for about $250 million in stock. Brothers William and Vincent Taormina will receive 6.5 million shares and will operate the Anaheim company as a separate unit under its own name.

A trash strike affecting northern Orange County entered its second week as workers rejected a federal mediator's plea to return to their jobs. Taormina Industries, meanwhile, said an influx of 200 nonunion replacement workers has allowed the company to return trash collection to almost normal schedules. The firm serves Anaheim, Brea, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Placentia, Yorba Linda, Villa Park and Chino Hills.

A recycling company is planning an expansion that would add as many as 200 employees and will ask the City Council today to close parts of some city streets to make way for the project. Taormina Industries Inc. said it plans to acquire property valued at about $10 million and add to its existing 300,000-square-foot facility at 1131 N. Blue Gum St. The streets involved, already surrounded by Taormina-owned property, are Gretta Lane and Coronado, La Mesa and Blue Gum streets.

State safety officials began an investigation Tuesday into the death of a worker who was buried under tons of refuse at a recycling yard. Celestino Mendoza, 55, a supervisor at the plant, disappeared around 7:50 p.m. Monday. He had been working in the green waste processing area of the five-acre recycling yard, where workers sort giant piles of lawn clippings, tree branches and other yard waste collected from homes. Co-workers searched unsuccessfully for Mendoza, then called 911 about 8:30 p.m.

Everyone was talking trash at this week's City Council meeting. The city approved an agreement with Taormina Industries Inc. that would extend its contract, adopt a recycling program and adjust monthly rates--but not before residents questioned some of its provisions. "I think the service we have is great," resident Todd Tande said, but added, "I think extending the contract for 20 years is excessive."

Republic Industries Inc., a fast-growing conglomerate run by multibillionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, said Wednesday it is acquiring one of the California's largest waste-management companies as part of an ambitious plan to expand its waste business throughout the West. Taormina Industries Inc. has agreed to merge into Republic for about $250 million in stock. Brothers William and Vincent Taormina will receive 6.5 million shares and will operate the Anaheim company as a separate subsidiary.

If there were ever any doubts about who has held sway over the city's trash industry, they were buried along with Cosmo (Dick) Taormina. On that spring day in 1984, top city officials crowded Anaheim's First Christian Church to pay their respects to the gregarious man some called the "garbologist." After the church service, a convoy of polished trash trucks--some from competing firms--met the long, slow funeral procession at the cemetery gates.

Although Rams owner Georgia Frontiere says the team is not for sale, an Anaheim waste disposal magnate has a plan that would put 92% of the team in the hands of public stockholders and a local group of investors by 1996. "I'm putting together a group because I want to buy this team," said William C. Taormina, chairman of Taormina Industries Inc., which controls the disposal contracts for five north Orange County cities.

A scheduled hike in city trash fees, combined with a proposal to add more services, could increase residents' trash fees by as much as $1.73 a month. Taormina Industries, which operates the city's trash collection system under the name of Yorba Linda Disposal, is scheduled to receive a rate increase of 14 cents per month. The higher rate is a contracted, cost-of-living increase that the city has already agreed to pay.

A recycling program for six cities in the county has won an award from a national organization of trash collection companies. Taormina Industries, which hauls trash in Brea, Anaheim, Placentia, Villa Park, Yorba Linda and Garden Grove, has won the award from the Solid Waste Assn. of North America. It will be presented at the association's exposition in San Jose this month.

Republic Industries Inc., a fast-growing conglomerate run by multibillionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, said Wednesday it is acquiring one of the California's largest waste-management companies as part of an ambitious plan to expand its waste business throughout the West. Taormina Industries Inc. has agreed to merge into Republic for about $250 million in stock. Brothers William and Vincent Taormina will receive 6.5 million shares and will operate the Anaheim company as a separate subsidiary.

Republic Industries Inc., a fast-growing conglomerate run by multi-billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, said Wednesday it is acquiring one of California's largest waste management companies as part of an ambitious plan to expand its waste business throughout the West. Taormina Industries Inc. has agreed to merge into Republic for about $250 million in stock. Brothers William and Vincent Taormina will receive 6.5 million shares and will operate the Anaheim company as a separate unit under its own name.

A recycling company is planning an expansion that would add as many as 200 employees and will ask the City Council today to close parts of some city streets to make way for the project. Taormina Industries Inc. said it plans to acquire property valued at about $10 million and add to its existing 300,000-square-foot facility at 1131 N. Blue Gum St. The streets involved, already surrounded by Taormina-owned property, are Gretta Lane and Coronado, La Mesa and Blue Gum streets.

Everyone was talking trash at this week's City Council meeting. The city approved an agreement with Taormina Industries Inc. that would extend its contract, adopt a recycling program and adjust monthly rates--but not before residents questioned some of its provisions. "I think the service we have is great," resident Todd Tande said, but added, "I think extending the contract for 20 years is excessive."

Although Rams owner Georgia Frontiere says the team is not for sale, an Anaheim waste disposal magnate has a plan that would put 92% of the team in the hands of public stockholders and a local group of investors by 1996. "I'm putting together a group because I want to buy this team," said William C. Taormina, chairman of Taormina Industries Inc., which controls the disposal contracts for five north Orange County cities.

The City Council this week considered and then postponed a request from Yorba Linda Disposal for a rate increase, saying it would make a decision at the next council meeting, on May 17. The delay will give Taormina Industries, which operates in the city as Yorba Linda Disposal, time to prepare a report on possible cost savings if the city were to extend its 10-year contract with the refuse hauler to 20 or more years.

State safety officials began an investigation Tuesday into the death of a worker who was buried under tons of refuse at a recycling yard. Celestino Mendoza, 55, a supervisor at the plant, disappeared around 7:50 p.m. Monday. He had been working in the green waste processing area of the five-acre recycling yard, where workers sort giant piles of lawn clippings, tree branches and other yard waste collected from homes. Co-workers searched unsuccessfully for Mendoza, then called 911 about 8:30 p.m.

The City Council this week considered and then postponed a request from Yorba Linda Disposal for a rate increase, saying it would make a decision at the next council meeting, on May 17. The delay will give Taormina Industries, which operates in the city as Yorba Linda Disposal, time to prepare a report on possible cost savings if the city were to extend its 10-year contract with the refuse hauler to 20 or more years.

A recycling program for six cities in the county has won an award from a national organization of trash collection companies. Taormina Industries, which hauls trash in Brea, Anaheim, Placentia, Villa Park, Yorba Linda and Garden Grove, has won the award from the Solid Waste Assn. of North America. It will be presented at the association's exposition in San Jose this month.

A scheduled hike in city trash fees, combined with a proposal to add more services, could increase residents' trash fees by as much as $1.73 a month. Taormina Industries, which operates the city's trash collection system under the name of Yorba Linda Disposal, is scheduled to receive a rate increase of 14 cents per month. The higher rate is a contracted, cost-of-living increase that the city has already agreed to pay.