D.C.'s trash police getting picky on ticketing
Residents and business owners in some of the District's wealthiest neighborhoods are outraged over tickets they've received for up to $1,000 by the city's trash police for having a recyclable item as small as a soda can mixed in with their trash.
For more than a decade, the District's Department of Public Works inspectors have ticketed residents and businesses for mixing recyclable goods with regular trash, not picking up leaves or leaving items too large for a garbage truck on the curb. But over the past several months residents and business owners - many in downtown's Ward 2 - say the Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Program has been hitting them harder than ever before.
"We were issued a $200 citation for not recycling a single can," said Gina Schaefer, owner of Logan Hardware near P and 14th streets, Northwest. "People always dump trash in our [trash bin], we can't control it."
A copy of the citation obtained by The Washington Examiner clearly shows an image of a single aluminum can surrounded by a mess of garbage. A month after Schaefer was ticketed for the can in March, the hardware store was hit with a $150 fine when a neighbor left a couch by the store's trash.
It seems the ticket writers aren't following the laws they're supposed to enforce. District law allows for up to 30 percent of trash to be mixed with recyclable materials.
A DPW spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Some residents say the fines they've been dealt were unfair. Dupont Circle resident Daniel Lyons said his condominium building was recently fined $1,000 for not having trash in a proper receptacle.
"It came as a surprise," Lyons said. "We didn't know the city had any intention of doing this."
Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans said his office has been "bombarded" with complaints from constituents, all of them saying the city appears to have stepped up its enforcement measures without any notice. Some, like Schaefer, are turning to Evans for help in fighting the citations.
Evans said he believes his ward is being unfairly targeted.
"I spoke with [DPW Director] Bill Howland and he assured me that's not the case," Evans said. "It certainly appears to be the case to me, though."
Evans said he "agrees with enforcing the law, but they can't be overzealous and issue someone a $200 ticket for having a can" in their trash.
If Schaefer doesn't pay the tickets, she said the city can hold up various business licenses she needs to operate.
"I employ 140 people and would like to be thought of as a good business owner, and not someone who needs to be fined," she said.
fklopott@washingtonexaminer.com
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/08/dcs-trash-police-getting-picky-ticketing
