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It's been two weeks since Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that litter in San Francisco had decreased 19% since last year, and about ten days since the last of the newspapers reporting the announcement blew away.
According to the 97-page litter audit, litter that falls in the category of "printed fiber" (such as newspapers) is UP, from 26.7% to 31.3% of large litter. In the newspaper reports, though, this fact went unmentioned, with articles in the City Star (shown here on the floor of the 14 Mission bus -- does that count as litter?) and the Chronicle focusing on the three M's of San Francisco litter: Marlboro, McDonald's, and Muni.
Doesn't the headline, "Exterminating Litterbugs," have the hollow yet bellicose ring of "Mission Accomplished"?
Our own unscientific survey of the sidewalk in our neighborhood shows no change in the amount of litter since 2007. In fact, while conducting this survey (and stopping by Tartine for a tasty morning bun), we witnessed an egregious act of litter: a passenger in a Jeep SUV opened the door and fastidiously placed a beverage cup on the street by the curb.
Our initial plan of chucking the cup back in through the window as the car pulled into the glacial traffic of 18th Street was foiled by that nefarious invention known as air conditioning: the passenger window was raised. Plus we don't know how fast we can run holding a cup of coffee. So instead we took this photo of the evidence.
Haven't you people seen the 1971 public service announcement that TV Guide called “the 16th greatest commercial of all time”? Just imagine the tears that would run down the cheeks of that Native American guy if he canoed up to Tartine and saw your disregard for the earth!
Note: yes, we know that Iron Eyes Cody, the supposedly Native American actor in the commercial, was later unmasked as Tony de Corti, an Italian American from Louisiana. And the tear was fake. Because it was a commercial, made for a place called television. But litter is real. And it bugs us.
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Why did you blur out the license plate? Dude needs to get reported and ticketed.
A friend of mine was out for a run when he spotted a guy throw his lit cigarette out the window of his car. Supposedly the friend grabbed the butt, threw it back into the douchebag, er, driver's window and yelled "here, you dropped this," then ran off.
I don't know if the story is true or mere puffery (no pun intended), but I found it hilarious nonetheless. And I prefer to think and hope it's true.
And I agree, don't blur out the license plate. These idiots don't deserve any kind of anonymity.
I've always found this behavior odd... People seem to think that if they carefully place something on the ground, as opposed to throwing it, it's not littering... Very peculiar.
And I probably shouldn't open a whole can of worms by asking, but what should one do with cigarette butts when done smoking? Public ashtrays don't exist (except outside bars); even garbage cans are few and far between - and wouldn't tossing a lit cigarette in have the potential to start a fire? I tend to be fine with folks stomping out butts in the gutter - though as a sometime-smoker, I'm probably biased...
Oh, and I should point out - my question about cigarette butt disposal is legitimate curiosity. I'm not defending the tossing of lighted butts from the car...
Use the ashtray in your car?
How about.. um... I don't know... more garbage cans and recycling bins on the sidewalks? I guess a simple solution like that wouldn't meet either of the 2 goals of any SF legislation:
1) Get Gavin Newsom in the press.
2) Provide a source for more backdoor revenue via fees and fines.
I ususally put them out and toss 'em in a garbage can while walking.
If I'm outside a bar and there's already 30 cigarette butts in the gutter and no nearby garbage can, that's where mine go too.
Yes, Rincon, I'm a terrible person.
The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report on Litter and Graffiti of 2001 makes an interesting recommendation, proposing
"A reward system wherein citizens who report litter law violations be awarded a designated part of the monetary penalty imposed on the violator(s)."
I haven't been able to find out if this was ever put in place!
But the City and County of San Francisco Police Code, Article 1, Section 37 outlines the following penalties for litter:
(b) Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of Section 35(a) of this Article shall be guilty of an infraction and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished for the first offense by a fine of not less than $80 nor more than $100; for a second offense by a fine of not less than $150 nor more than $200; and for each additional offense by a fine of not less than $300 nor more than $500.
(c) Alternatively, any person who violates any of the provisions of Sections 33, 34, or 35(a) of this Article shall be subject to an administrative penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each violation. Administrative penalties authorized by this section shall be assessed, enforced and collected in accordance with Section 39-1 of this Code.
I called 311 to see if I could get my share of the dough. Alas, the 311 representative I spoke to informed me that there's no enforcement mechanism for citizen reports of littering.
However, he assured me that City will act quickly if a citizen reports dumping (something like a computer or refrigerator).
No, by all means throw your cigarette butts on the grounds so they're washed down the storm drains. The sea and wildlife LOVE it when cigarette butts wind up in their bellies. Jesus Christ.
Further proof for my smokers = inconsiderate assholes file.
Hooray for the lightning rod of scorn that is smoking!
I'm glad you were able to overlook the part about throwing away cigarette butts, bluecanary. I would hate to see you lose your generalization. You're usually much more even headed in your comments, so I guess a giant cigarette murdered your family and salted the earth of your farm?
"You are selfishly littering. How Nickel-And-Dime. Think next time. Don't be so self centered. Cleanliness, as you should know by now, is hard to come by.
May the fleas of a thousand camels invade your armpits."
I don't know what you are all arguing about; it's a proven fact that smokers are inconsiderate jerks.
Shit. I always forget that.
On a related (to the post) note, has anyone ever actually received a ticket for littering? They're like the sasquatch.
@orangedrink:
You mean this part?
"If I'm outside a bar and there's already 30 cigarette butts in the gutter and no nearby garbage can, that's where mine go too."
It's pretty curious that this report comes out just in time for NewScum to announce he's going to make cutbacks in street cleaning.
It always amazes me watching people on the street just openly, casually tossing something out of their hand like it's their living room or something. The best fun is watching those that try to do it slyly, like when the turn a corner, or as they get on a bus, even navigating around a public garbage can, they consciously plot to use the moment of movement or visual obstruction to mask that dastardly deed. It's often done with a loose grip of dangling arm and a stone-faced expression quickly looking the opposite direction. As if this bit of theater doesn't get noticed and should passerby see it they've prepared plausible deniability. They've got the whole defense part all worked up. People of all ages, cultures and socioeconomic class participate in these acts of premeditated provincialism.
Now if only these jackasses, and there's many many of you out there, could channel those superpowers to good use we wouldn't have such litter problems. Oh, but a cup or gum wrapper is nothing to get all worked up about, is it?
We live down the street from an elementary school, and for weeks, I used to seek little kids chucking junk food wrappers on the sidwalk, homework assignments (with their names on them), etc., and their parents f**king encouraged it.
I gathered all that shit up for about a week and then mailed it to the school's principal, telling her, in polite terms -- shocking for me, I know-- that her students needed lessons in civic manners.
A few days later she marched a crowd of the kids identified on the homework papers down to my apartment to apologize. Some were crying. It was fucking hilarious. Actually, the crying part was kind of sad. But I was pretty impressed that the principal went to such lengths to drive that lesson home.
It didn't make a dent in the garbage on my sidewalk, unfortunately. Newsome needs to cut back on street cleaning in some areas, when I lived in SOMA we got street cleaning every other day and serously, there was nothing over in that BFE land to clean.
92.3% of what comes out of Newsom's mouth is complete bullshit. They used to call it pandering, but we're all politically correct these days.
63.9% of the people of San Francisco are so self centered and unaware that they would vote for him AGAIN even if he kicked their grandmother AND dog in the nose.
I smell bullshit when 100.2% of statistics are entirely inaccurate.
It's not called pandering anymore? What is it called now? Let me know, I want to be up with the times. ;-)
What pisses me off is when someone starts talking about how much they love Newsom, but when I ask them to name something positive he's done, they draw a freaking blank. You love him and you don't know what he does??? They must be blinded by his hair products.
Despite that, fortunately S.F. is on a slower path to Idiocracy than most of the rest of the country(world). But our leaders are fuckable and have nice hair, so whatever.
I just received a panhandling email from Newsom for Governor ... sorry, bro, I've got to save up my spare change to help Obama win and to try to make sure Prop. 8 loses (the prop. aimed at taking away the right to marry from same-sex couples).
Anyway... back to litter... don't parents smack the piss out of their kids when they litter so that they don't even consider mucking things up when they get older? We need a new Woodsy the Owl, with a taser or something, taking it up a notch in the urban areas like San Francisco. One second, you're dropping the wrapper on the bus floor ... the next, grandma reaches over the seat and tazes your ass, saying "Give a hoot, mother trucker! Don't pollute!" :)
Litter rate down, murder rate up. Preventing people from littering really pisses them off?
Ugh, I know it's off topic, but Rincon got me started. Someone in my office just told me "of course" they're voting Yes on 8.
Fuck. I need to go be a legal aid lawyer or something else with some integrity.
And no, the parents bringing their kids to my neighborhood encourage their kids to litter. All of them, of course, except the one I chewed out last year at full voice on the sidewalk.