Newsom, in his defense, says that SF has more garbage cans than any other comparable city, and he thinks people are using them to throw away personal or commercial trash instead of signing up for garbage service. (We're looking at YOU, Ed Jew!) "I'm still pro garbage can!" Gavin says, hastily.

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, though, isn't so pleased, calling for legislative hearings on the issue after getting a bunch of calls from angry constituents wanting their trash cans back. "What's next? Is he going to stop street sweepers from coming around because people are throwing their trash in the street?"

And business folks like always-popular sidewalk hangout Mitchell's Ice Cream say that after their garbage can got taken away, they've been forced as good neighbors to put out a big cardboard box by the store to pick up all the cups and napkins that their customers would otherwise leave behind. "For 35 years that can was there. It was a good can. Now it's gone completely. It doesn't make sense," he lamented.

The city says they'll leave garbage cans by hangout spots like MUNI stops and the like, but want to encourage businesses like Mitchell's to get garbage service instead. Why don't they just have rule-breakers (cough--Ed Jew--cough) get garbage service, but also leave some trash cans outside for folks like us who want to throw our finished cup of Mitchell's Mexican Chocolate ice cream away without going back into the store?