Residents fined for litter on sidewalk

A new bit of legislation has recently passed (and is awaiting full implementation) that adjusts the times when the Department of Sanitation can fine residents for litter on their property or on the sidewalk in front of their property. Before this law was suggested, anyone could be fined from $50 to $250 between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m. and noon and 1 p.m. if there was any litter at all up to 18 inches from the curb of the sidewalk in front of their home. Residents finally complained loud enough about the fact they could dutifully clean their sidewalk before leaving for work in the morning and come home after a long day to find that passersby had used the sidewalk in front of their home as a trash can, explaining that very few people come home and have time to check their sidewalks during their lunch hour (or half-hour, as is commonly the case).

Apparently, there were two laws in consideration. One included a warning for a first offense. This one did not pass.

What did pass is an ammendment that says the DSNY can only fine residents between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m. and 7 and 8 p.m. Perhaps this will put a dent in the more than $16 million the city is reported to have collected by fining residents in 2006.

Trash in a trash can can be a crime…

In mid-August, the New York City Council passed a bill to quadruple the fines for dumping personal garbage into public trash cans. For repeat offenders, it could cost you as much as $400 to leave your Chinese takeout containers in the bin on the corner. (Read the amNY article.)

The reasoning, according to supporters of the bill, is that much of the city’s litter doesn’t come from people dropping trash as they walk down the streets, but from trash that overflows from full bins and blows where it will. After a few weeks of paying attention to trash cans and litter in the city, I’ll vouch for that. I’ve watched people carefully place their empty coffee cups on top of overflowing bins, only to watch it blow out a few minutes later and roll across the street.

But the bill raises (at least) two questions of concern: how will they identify offenders, and why don’t they simply place more trash bins around the city?

Beyond seeing New Yorkers drop their trash bags in public bins firsthand, as the amNY article explains, sanitation workers are free to dig through bags of trash left in public containers to look for identifying materials, such as mail. Is this an invasion of privacy? What if everyone just shreds their mail?

As for the second question, the city argues that the existing bins are emptied daily and that they shouldn’t be filled in 24 hours just by “legal litter.” Also, if someone thinks a corner needs another trash bin, they can request one on the city’s website. What else can be done to keep space in the public bins?