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By KEVIN McCALLUM
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Santa Rosa residents can now be fined $100 or more for leaving their garbage cans at the curb too long, but the City Council increased the grace period from 12 hours to a full day to make it easier for people to comply with the new rule.
Council members also stressed that the change was not an effort to raise revenue from fines, but rather to gain voluntary compliance with a rule aimed at keeping neighborhoods clean and safe.
“A lot of people are concerned that we’re out there looking for fee income, slapping those trash cans with ordinance violations, and that’s just not the case,” Councilman Gary Wysocky said.
Mike Reynolds, the city’s senior building inspector and head of code enforcement, said it was true “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that his officials will not be out looking for violators.
Rather, they will respond to complaints, and even then not very quickly or forcefully. Complaints about garbage cans or other refuse containers being left out more than a day before or after scheduled pickup days will be given a low priority, he said.
An educational letter explaining the new rule and its purpose will go out to the address in question within 21 days, Reynolds said. In virtually all such cases, people comply with such rules once made aware of them, he said.
Only if they don’t, and follow-up contact failed, would fines be considered. The first violation would be $100, the second $250 and subsequent fines $500, he said.
The rule reinstates a section of the city code that was “inadvertently” eliminated when it was revised in 2004 and again in 2009, said City Attorney Caroline Fowler.
Steve McCaffrey, director of government affairs for North Bay Corp., which serves about 40,000 residential households in the city, said his firm supports the move.
“This is a very common practice,” McCaffrey said, adding that his firm would be happy to inform residents about the change in their next bills.
J.K. Karrman, who lives in Rincon Valley, said she worried about how the rule would affect the elderly and disabled, calling it “an abuse of power” by the city to levy such fines.
“It’s just not right,” she said.
Elizabeth Gatley said she was glad the move wasn’t a “money grab” by the city. But she wished people would, instead of complaining about their neighbors, talk to them about the problem directly and maybe even offer to help.
“If the residents of Santa Rosa would just wake up and be more friendly to their neighbors, it might solve this problem and we wouldn’t have to do this at all,” Gatley said.
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It’s a bit silly. Wonder what the reason is for this movement?
Cars speed up and down my street, doing
35 to 45 MPH when the speed limit is 25
Do you think you can get the Santa Rosa Police to come and do something about it?
No, but leave your garbage can out, park your RV over 72 hours, and suddenly they have the manpower to do something about it….
It is not about Garbage Cans
It is about Control
Many great comments here, just one question, where were all of you last tuesday night during city council?
The only way we the people have a chance of making a difference and letting the people we elected know how we feel about things they are going to do is to go to council meetings and speak up!!!!
Please it’s time more people came to city council meetings and told the council how we feel.
I make an effort to go as often as I can because it’s my city and my elected officials and and they need to hear from us.
This is another example to get rid of all of the people on the city council. Money is tight from less tax revenue and they refuse to get rid of a few expensive cops who eat up all of our tax dollars.
Instead, they fine people for garbage cans when many of them are elderly, invalid and unable to move those big cans around for a variety of reasons such as being wheel chair bound, etc.
This ordinance must be revoked and I strongly encourage as many of you as possible to loudly complain at city meetings.
Why is it that the progressives always turn to fines when enacting new rules for Santa Rosa? I am sure there are other methods that could be used to insure compliance with their rules and regulations. But, they are always more concerned about fines to add to the city coffers.
First, how big is the problem? 5 or 10 calls a month. How many barking dog calls or cats in trees calls do they get a month?
Why didn’t the council look toward the trash company handling the problem by picking up the trash bins they own and returning them to the side yards? This is done in other cities to avoid the problem decribed in the PD.
No, the first thing the council does is punish the residents with outrageous fines.
Santa Rosa residents are not criminals. They are taxpayers and for the most part interested in maintaining their property, neigborhood and streets.
I am sure this will be remember at the next election.
Let fine people for using more than one square of paper when they drop a duece. If your car is dirty , you should get fined as well, its a eyesore.
This is how you turn an ordinary person from a liberal to a flaming conservative.
Enact HOA style rules on an entire city.
Leave the garbage cans out all week so your neighbors can’t park their cars in front of your house. That’s what the real complains is about!
I’ll be leaving my cans out till the next pickup. I’ll just walk to the street every day and deposit my daily waste. When the city takes care of my neighbors RV and the broken down car that’s been parked across the street but moved six inches every few days, then I’ll worry about my garbage cans.
Yet another venue for the government to get their noses into: Our garbage! What’s next?
There are some neighbors you don’t want to go knock on their door; believe me it can be dangerous. Sadly even over a can, or papers left in the driveway etc. I have to wonder though how fair is it to do a day? What about those leaving for the weekend or something & they have done yard work, want the can emptied, so they curb it before they leave. So now you can have an over grown yard & people complain. Or stinky trash left out til they get back. We don’t all have friends that can do it nor are friendly with the neighbors. Or hey we’ve asked the neighbor they said they’d put the cans out but forgot.What about people who’s cans weren’t emptied. Refuse sometimes tells you to leave your can out and they’ll empty it in a day or two. Do you have to put a note on the can so people don’t make a call? I’m not sure why we’re making such a huge deal of this. Is it lane blocking or something? I move my neighbors cans into their driveway up near the garage toward the walkway so its out of the street but not blocking their driveway. People turn the simplest s&%$ into the biggest issues for no reason. We have bigger issues that need attention than cans left out.
I do not believe for a second this wasn’t done to generate fees for the city. I don’t care if my neighbors’ leave their cans out sometimes, so what? I mean…really? Your valuable time was spent on this?
Why don’t you ban leafblowers? My neighbor is using one right now to blow the street with. Why, I don’t know, it’s summer, for crying out loud but they’re doing it and someone around here is doing it almost every day, especially in the fall. Now those are really annoying!
To My Comrades of the New Collective,
When you find yourself in a north bound sealed boxcar on the SMART Transport Rail Line, please rely on this survival chant used by many in the past >
“it can’t get any worse than this”
Know History >
It began with a simple boycott of retail shops and ended in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Far-fetched ?
Repeat after me >
“it can’t get any worse than this”
Liz Gatley is absolutely right! We need to get out there and talk to our neighbors. Not only about what is going on in our communities, but to see if they need a little help!
Alex seems to think that if the Government doesn’t take care of the elderly and sickly, no one will…..
If my dad was alive and I knew he needed help around the house, I would make sure his needs were met so that he wouldn’t have to worry those things and he would be able to come and go as he pleased! Government doesn’t have to tell me to take care of my family, friends or neighbors.
The INDIVIDUAL will do a better job governing themselves each and every time. The Nanny State is what happened when we ignored our Constitution! We need to get back to our founding principles!
Thank you KEVIN McCALLUM for the quote again.
The council several times tried to make it clear it was not a money grab, so to be polite I started by saying I was glad to hear them say that. Now I hope it’s not just another false promise by the council, but only time will tell.
I also agree with the other comments I think it’s sort of a silly ordinance if they do not in force it.
“Mike Reynolds, said it was true “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that his officials will not be out looking for violators.
Rather, they will respond to complaints, and even then not very quickly or forcefully.”
Then why bother with an ordinance if you are not going to in force it quickly or forcefully?
And if you do decide to in force the rule will you have a plan for those who are older or those who are in a wheelchair or those who work days at a time etc. that cannot get them in and out within the 24hr time frame. I say inform the neighbor who complained about the situation and see if they are willing to or ask them to help!
I say to be a good American or a good person in general is to be as friendly to your neighbors as possible.
I totally agree with the last two paragraphas of the article which were very well articulated by Elizabeth Gatley which said:
“she wished people would, instead of complaining about their neighbors, talk to them about the problem directly and maybe even offer to help.
“If the residents of Santa Rosa would just wake up and be more friendly to their neighbors, it might solve this problem and we wouldn’t have to do this at all,” Gatley said.”
Imagine that. Let’s bring back common courtesey.
I will leave whatever can out that has NOT been picked up on the day it was supposed to be picked up till it is picked up!
If you see cans painted red with a yellow hammer and sicle it’s not becouse the garbage company is a pack of communists!
And yes, in my opinion it is about the money…well that, power and control.
Boy they sure pushed this through fast!
Now all the busybody neighbors have been given a path to express their passive aggressiveness. Get ready City of Santa Rosa, I think you’re about to get more than 5 to 10 calls a month.
Such a silly rule.
I’m actually wondering about the legality of this. If you look at the side of your can, it says “Property of the Disposal Company.” Is it even legal for the city to fine a homeowner for “misuse” of property the homeowner doesn’t even own?
Ridiculous. It’s like belonging to a bad home owners association in south Florida.
Good for this…don’t leave your trash in the street. I knew it was a matter of time before I heard the “age card” being played. You know which story, the someone who is so old and cannot put back their empty trash can (which has wheels)…much like the old person who cannot afford their medicine so they are eating cat food…good gravy. Solution is simple; either someone needs to be put in a nursing home or get some better kids to take better care of them. Really, the day my dad cannot get his trash can is the day he will never be living alone all day. Come on, it has wheels. Either ask your neighbor to pull it back in your driveway or don’t take out your trash that week. That is one sure and hell way of telling a criminal, “hey, come rob me…I done left my garbage cans out so you know I am not home”
Unbelievable. What about people who go on vacation? What about my mother who can’t take the cans to and from the curb by herself and I’m not always available to come by and do it for her in a 24 hour timeframe? This is a shameful money grab, and the notion the city “won’t be looking for violators” in order to raise revenue is a highly dubious claim at best.
Santa Rosa’s government just hit a new low. I hope everyone leaves their can out for a month.