by Nan Levinson in City Finances, Civic Action
Posted on August 12, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Last Modified on March 5, 2010 at 10:38 pm
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So I get a trash violation citation in the mail — all but illegible & addressed to a misconception of my name — dunning me for $50 for putting out trash too early and in paper bags. Now, I’m all for clean streets and garbage in containers and doing my part. Only problem is that it’s not my trash. It’s from one of the renters, whom I don’t know because they change regularly, in one of the two triple-deckers behind my house. It happens all the time.
Yet, to appeal the citation, I’m told I must show up in person for a hearing. No way to do it in writing, let alone online. In other words, not only do I have to put up with other people’s garbage, but I also have to traipse down to City Hall some evening for more bureaucratic garbage.
I call the city to object and get sent by the operator to the city clerk, who sends me to the health inspector, who sends me back to the city clerk. They’re sympathetic but insistent that there is nothing they can do about it. This is the system and apparently, no one is in charge of it.
Some questions: Can we really be the only house in Somerville who has run into this clumsy and ill-conceived system? And why must I spend my time on someone else’s trash? And why can’t I appeal online, as even Cambridge allows me to do for parking violations?
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We got a ticket, fought it and won. It took all of 5 minutes. I can understand your frustration but they asked for certains things at the hearing that we needed to provide in person. They also had a photo of the garbage (so they have their evidence too).
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We were away on vacation when our tenants decided to clean house (two days before garbage day). I’ll bet most of that stuff found new homes because the photo (taken at 2AM) showed only useful stuff (not really obstructing passage on the sidewalk). But I decided that I should have told the tenants the rules, so I paid without complaining. I’m starting to feel like there might be a limit to how many such handslapper handouts I will so gracefully hand over to the city. I don’t really have a claim, but it gets irksome when you can’t ever get away with anything at all. Once in a while I’d like to feel like my city could give me a break. I like your idea of online appeals.
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As a lawyer, I can see this online appeals option being very difficult as you need to demonstrate a few things like – you live at the house, see the photo to state whether or not it is your trash, etc. It is not that time consuming and actually was held at 6pm at night instead of during normal business hours.
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I also got a ticket earlier this month. A tenant had put out a sofa a night early, thinking it would find a new home. It did not, and I got a $50 ticket. I didn’t bother to appeal it.
I am all for clean streets, so on one level I am glad they’re checking up on trash violations. I just think it would have been just as effective for the city to give out a warning for a first offense, although I am sure the city wants the money.
Its interesting to hear about all the other people who have received tickets lately. I wonder if it was a city-wide sweep. If so, and if the city really wants to make some money, sweep in June and Labor Day, when all the students move out…
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We received our ticket in the morning (7:40am) and it was for the unit behind us putting trash out without using a garbage can. We got the ticket because real estate taxes come in our name even though we are 3 condo units.
I believe they go around frequently before they come to pick up the garbage. Your garbage is to be out before 7:30am too (in case you did not know that). We found this out at the hearing.
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This one is a pretty blatant money-grab and just another ham fisted, backdoor tax. Just like the street cleaning and the meters it is not about enforcement it’s all about revenue. I am all for making sure that barrels aren’t overflowing and rats aren’t all over the streets, but they’re a bit overzealous (get that revenue!) about enforcement.
What do you do about the bums that come around picking through the recycle bins during the night and not having the decency to put things BACK into the recycle bin and leaving it next to the bin. If there are bottles or trash next to the bins or barrels – they ticket you. A good friend of mine got hit with this one — and it wasn’t even her recycle bin. I just laughed.
I have 2 different properties here (2 family and 4 family) and I had to get the big barrels (with the hinge doors) and make sure (via writing) that the tenants know the rules. I explained that if I get a fine – then they get a fine. Sad that is has to be that way, but this city is so overzealous about grabbing revenue that I don’t have a choice.
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I got a ticket, too, and went to city hall in person to find out why. I was sent to several departments such as the health division and the city inspector’s office, but the latter has short business hours and I was shut out. I have to schedule more time off from work to go there again.
These tickets are clearly another revenue source for the city and are not about preventing vermin. I watched a traffic ticketing officer shredding up the remains of her sandwich and tossing it on the grounds behind Rite Aid in Davis Sq. The shredding suggests she was making bite-size bits for the wildlife (the pigeons? the squirrels?) Feeding them is a fine way to encourage vermin. I took a picture of this incident–where’s a good place to post it?
It is disgusting that I have been forced to add a video camera to the house to tape everything that happens on the street in front of my house with regard to the trash. It seems to be the only way to defend oneself against the Somerville bureaucrats.
These tickets are just going to cause many of the real offenders to start dropping off their loose trash in front of someone else’s house.
It’s about time we forced the city to work for its people, and not against them.
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Sandy,
Thanks for taking photos! Would you be able to post your pictures on Flickr and then link them to a post on SomervilleVoices?
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I just got my 4th ticket since August. Now its 100.00. I am an absentee landlord of a two family who visits the property 5 days a week. My tenants are great, know the rules and help out. My beef is that other people are dumping trash in front of my house. My tenant saw this happen. We live across the street from 2 six familys who have their own trash pick-up yet the tenants continue to place trash in front of our house. Last weekend, there were 6 matresses in front of the six family. on Monday, one of those matresses ended up in front of our house and of course, we got fined. Even if I lived at the property, there is no way I can monitor 24×7 who is placing trash in front of my house. Anyone else having this issue? I know when I appeal, there will be a photo, but how do I convince them it wasnt mine!
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Like you, I am an absentee property owner has been hit with trash tickets for a long time and until the past few months, the amount and frequency of tickets issued had got worse. Even if the renters have been made aware of the trash policy, as long as I am not there 24/7, it is almost impossible to prevent similar violations. If addition, despite the my address change that took place more than a year a half ago, city hall still sent the tickets to the old address, resulting in doubling and trippling the amount of fines as I never received any of these tickets.
Clearly the city has been using elevated trash citations to augment its revenues sources, on top of an already higher than average real estate taxes. Why cann’t Somerville rationalize its capital expenditures, reducing overhead (the fact that two departments, DPW and BOH, are both engaged in trash ticketing and the repeated record errors at city hall indicate inefficiency) like other cities or municipalities?
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I’d recommend that landlords put language in their leases requiring that tenants comply with the City’s ordinances and regulations related to trash disposal, and are responsible for any fines for failing to meet those requirements. Then you can pass along tickets to tenants to fail to comply and the problem may stop.
This doesn’t fix the issue of other people putting trash in front of your house, but its a start.
Also, from what I hear, all communities around here ticket for failure to meet garbage rules. What’s different is that Somerville has just started to take this seriously. As a resident, part of me is glad that the City takes quality of life issues like trash seriously. Of course, the down side is that I may get tickets just like anyone else.
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