Solid waste ordinances say put bulky items in the alley and we'll come pick it up. We say if you put bulky items in the alley, you'll get a letter and a citation.
I think we're doing exactly what the City Council has asked us to do.
There's only so much we can do. We can send letters to these people and we can make them pick the stuff up, but if you have a neighborhood association ... that goes much farther than what we can do.
Citations are important and citations have their place, especially when people don't want to clean up their property. The officers have no problem writing citations but ... you have to be careful not to take a snapshot two-second look at a property.
There are still people - not as many now - calling and saying, 'Well I've been reporting this for two years. We weren't in existence two years ago. We didn't have all those officers. Those phone calls are slowing down.
