[Special thanks to Richmond neighbor David Hirtz for sending in this report.]
Neighbors and officials gathered at the District Community center Monday night to talk about graffiti and trash in the Richmond district.
Supervisor Eric Mar facilitated the meeting in connection with Keep Our Neighborhood Clean (KONC). KONC is a grass-roots organization in the Richmond District whose purpose is to raise awareness and take action to create a cleaner neighborhood.
Speakers included Ed Reiskin, Director, Department of Public works, Officer Cris Putz from the Police Graffiti Enforcement detail, and Jean Barish, co-founder of KONC.
The stories from the city officials sounded all too familiar. Budget cuts mean they are looking for citizens to fill in for eliminated staff positions, and services may be added back (such as street cleaning which was reduced) – but only if there is enough public demand.
Although extra eyes and ears to report and reduce graffiti and dumping make sense, neighbors did not agree that this was the answer to the problem. Neighbors shared story after story of graffiti, trash and waste piling up. Photos of littered streets were circulated and there were a few heated exchanges.
One of the biggest surprises was finding out that for adults, there is no fine for graffiti crime, just community service. The reaction of city officials? Lots of shoulder shrugging and stock responses like “give me your contact information and we’ll look into itâ€.
Jean Barish of KONC offered the most well received information of the meeting, with a tip sheet on how to reduce litter and graffiti. One item from the KONC tip sheet is especially useful to mention: to report any graffiti and trash problems, call 311. If you witness graffiti when it’s happening, Officer Putz advised calling 553-0123 right away.
Some other suggestions: After you read this pick up at least one piece of trash today. When you have that old mattress or other bulky item to get rid of, call Sunset Scavenger (330-1300) for their free pick-up instead of dragging it to the corner. Work with your neighbors and the Dept. of Public Works to “Adopt a Block” and to join “Graffiti Watch”.
To find out more about things you can do to keep the Richmond clean, contact KONC at 415-752-0185 or email koncsf@hotmail.com for more information. KONC has organized neighborhood cleanups that have resulted in tons of trash, compost and e-waste being collected and off the streets.
And if you’re fed up with the graffiti and litter in the neighborhood, let City Hall know. Email or call Supervisor Eric Mar to let him know that this issue matters to you. We could definitely use some tougher laws that enact real punishment for the crimes that spoil our beautiful views and architecture.
Sarah B.
Thank you to Jean Barish and all the members of KONC. Thank you to Supervisor Mar for facilitating this meeting with city officials. The Richmond is the mellow, foggy home for so many lovely people. The sight of mattresses and monitors dumped around our neighborhood is a daily vision. It hurts to know that the people dumping their large-item trash are our same lovely neighbors. I actually know which of my neighbors regularly stack their bulky trash on my corner. Once I found their name and address on a box and brought it back to them. I was very nice when I returned it to them, a few doors up the block. And they were very nice back. And so very apologetic that a mystery person would do something so rude, unbeknownst to them. No bulky trash for weeks following. Now the bulky trash appears every few weeks. The only difference: every address label is neatly cut out with an exacto knife. Our trash problem is a neighbor problem. One suggestion is to require every single-family home to subscribe to garbage pick up. My nice neighbors up the block somehow miss garbage pick up every week because they never ever have bins waiting on the curb in front of their house. At least when they stack their items on my corner they are very quiet and their work is very neat. Lovely in its own way.
Genevieve,
Your neighbors are a little disconnected and that seems to be part of the issue here in the neighborhood. Yes they are nice people, but nice people, quiet people, loud people, bad people all kinds of people are putting out household trash, dumping trash on corners. I urge you not to watch as is goes on for more months, call 311 and make a report. Some equally nice people will work with the neighbors to help change their habits. There’s nothing lovely or neat about what’s going on. If they took the time cutting lables and instead disposed of their trash properly the neighborhood would be cleaner and others in the neighborhood could use some of their time to enjoy a cleaner city instead of being the volunteers help cleaning up