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M&R of La Chron has put out another great piece on the gripe-vine: those $100 fines for leaving garbage bins out past 6 p.m. on garbage days. Yes, DPW is actually going around and issuing these tickets -- we barely missed getting one four months ago when we received a "warning" but not a fine.
Last month, 189 people were fined, which comes out to (according to our mad super blogger math skillz known as a calculator) $18,900 bucakroos. One complaint is that some residents don't have sufficient space for the bins and can only pull them off the street: which, according to DPW, is not enough to escape the fine.
To add more insult to injury, an OCD citizen was "helping out" by patrolling the neighborhoods taking pictures of offending cans. Awesome.
Photo by Näystin.
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What about for those who don't get home from work by (*gasp*) 6PM? Like I don't even LEAVE work until 6:30PM...
more productive idea: impose a fine on the homeless man for being left out on the street past 6pm. hands down he smells worse, looks worse and threatens my safety much more than a fucking bin
I was so pissed after reading the Gate article that I wrote Carmen Chu and asked her if she and the Board feel it appropriate for a large majority of San Franciscans to rearrange their work schedules to put their bins away before 6pm. Also I love how they won't fine the homeless guy by my office for using city streets as a toilet but they will fine me (a secretary) because I don't get home from work before 6pm to put my bins away.
They will fine this guy, or some other guy, but then the judge will dismiss the fine.
It's really stupid.
The shit disturber that I am, I would put my official bins inside on time, and replace them with nearly exact replica plastic bins I purchased seperately, then fight every ticket they gave me.
hello DPW - are you mental or just stupid? Most people have jobs to pay the rent/mortgage/water and garbage bills. Most jobs require one to be there until at 5:30 or 6. Then one has the charming job of trying to get home on public transprotation. By 6:30 PM? You try that and tell me how you get on. Get the f*** off your backsides and think of something USEFUL instead of USELESS. Get the inmates on a chain gang and have them clean the streets, weed the parks and do all the work we pay YOU to do but you don't do.
Here's the thing: my neighbors (hippies, obvs) leave the bins out for DAYS, and the whole sidewalk turns into a huge refuse heap. Apparently when pedestrians see a bin, they feel comfortable just chucking their trash in its general vicinity.
I do agree, though, that 6pm on the day of pickup is stupidly early to issue fines.
I hate it when people leave trash bins out 24/7 as much as the next uptight yuppie, but how does SF expect me to put them inside by 6p?
Doesn't 8pm seem more realistic? Or, hell -- given that my trash day is Friday, and I am often out in the evening -- even 6am the next morning?
We should at least get a free pass as often as Sunset Scavenger 'accidentally' forgets to pick up our entire block.
Petition campaign, anyone?
Petition, yes.
6pm is unreasonable.
Lets find that vigilante RAT on the motorcycle taking pictures. Anyone got something to puncture the f***er's tires?
I don't get it, WTF is wrong with leaving your bins away from the front of your house? Leaving it on the side doesn't look like a problem.
In Oakland, they use the bullshit term "blight" as an excuse that the garbage cans must be hidden away.
They also used that bullshit keyword to mow down the damn entire Western Addition for redevelopment. Thanks a lot Justin Herman (jackass...).
Leaving them out for more than 24 hours, I can see, but 6 pm is completely draconian.
And I echo the comments re the hoboes shitting on the sidewalk. Cops walk by the guy in our neighborhood and do nothing!!
I think it's kind of humorous that so many people have their own "neighborhood sidewalk shitter."
Maybe we all need to invest in a "bumbot" as seen on Steven Colbert. Kind of funny I was watching this re-run just as this story came up.
I take N Judah home on garbage collection days. And most of the time N Judah does not run on time, and runs people over or breaks down. It's not uncommon for me to get home past 6pm even if I leave work at a reasonable hour that according to the Muni schedule I will have gotten home before 6 if Muni ran on time. Why don't they fix N judah first so I can take my bin in on time?
Man, when I was a regular on Caltrain, 8:15 pm was not unheard of. Sometimes I couldn't catch a train at Mountain View until 6:46 pm. This rule is absurd.
Hey, make it reasonable......... 6th street is full of garbage ( humans and their by products )...oh and clean up the timeline on Muni, I might use those bus tokens.
And as far as OCD..... dang, find another one if you can !
Obseesive Compulsive Disorder that is.... so many ... like taking pictures of the high heels that the ' Hookers' leave out after they realize they can't walk in them all night.
I always have my bins inside well before 6pm and I have arrangements to drag in my neighbor's bins for them because they don't get home until later.
Make friends with neighbors who are around in the early evening and make a deal. They push it to the curb, you pull it back to avoid the fine, or vice-versa. Simple solution.
I live in an apartment building so don't deal with the bin issue, but I do want to point out that the law says that bins can be put out after 6 pm on the day before pickup and have to be in 24 hours later. So, if you put out your bins at 8 pm on Monday night for a Tuesday pickup, you have until 8 pm on Tuesday to bring them in. At least that's how I read it. (The law is at Article 5, Sec. 170 of the SF Public Works Code.) It still may not be enough time, but I'm just sayin...
And in case you are wondering, Supervisor McGoldrick introduced the ordinance early last year and it was passed unanimously by the Board - even Ed Jew voted for it. (File No. 070020.)
I read the ordinance the same way Sweet Melissa does. You can't put out your cans before 6pm the night before and residential customers have 24 hours to put away their cans, which can be well after 6 p.m.
"Any person, firm, or corporation occupying or having charge of any residential premises shall remove any such receptacles from the sidewalk, street, or other dedicated public right-of-way within twenty-four (24) hours after placing said receptacles out for collection and after the contents of the said receptacle have been collected." S.F. Pub. Works Code Art. 5.1, Sec. 170(a)(2).
http://www.municode.com/content/4201/14142/HTML/ch005_1.html
The tricky part (that seemed the bigger gripe in the Matier & Ross piece) was the rule that the cans have to be out of sight. My place is attached and the only practical place to keep the cans is in the garage so it's not a problem for me, but getting dinged for having your can in a side yard far from the street, though visible, is a little silly.
Here is a response from McGoldrick's office written by an intern (my district supervisor):
"Thank you very much for your email and thoughts on this issue. Our office is sympathetic to your points and we will speak with the Supervisor about amending the 6pm bring in time.
Again, thank you very much for your concerns and we will be in touch with the Supervisor as soon as possible."
Hmmm... what a canned response.
I'm glad to report that I got a lengthy response from Supervisor Chu last night at 12:44am. She is on the ball and responds to all my emails and phone calls, unlike McGoldrick's f-you response to Akit.
She says a hearing will be held soon on the law, its practicality and its enforcement.
Yesterday at the Board meeting Supervisor Dufty asked for the hearing to see if there are changes that need to be made to the law. McGoldrick wasn't at yesterday's meeting (I hear he is out of town) - which may explain why his office couldn't give a substantive response.
McGoldrick hasn't been very helpful when I write letters to him. He just sends his rat assistants to do the lazy work.
Makes me wonder why I'll vote for Mar at the next election.