Trash, Trash, Everywhere (San Jose, San Francisco: fit in, HOA, home)

[Californiaguy2007]

The Bay Area is such a nice and very desirable area to live in,but it is sad to see some areas with so much litter/graffiti,etc because it creates such an eyesore.

I just wanted to suggest contacting the San Jose City Hall at San Jose, CA - Official Website - City Hall and voice your concerns,and to also contact Caltrans at Submit Maintenance Service Request to submit a maintenance service request.

Let's all help keep California Clean and Beautiful,because it's our home

[citizensadvocate]

Originally Posted by mossly

I didn't live in the Bay Area prior to the plastic bag ban, but I'm skeptical that it is responsible for all of SJ's trash ills. The trash and recycling trucks drive down every street in every neighborhood on a weekly basis. If they were spewing debris the whole time, we'd all know about it and be up in arms. Not to mention that those cheap, small, flimsy bags that stores used to give out are utterly unsuited for keeping trash secure.

I've said this on C-D before, but it seems to be more socially acceptable to litter here than it was in any of the other six states I've lived in. Including other heavily populated, ethnically diverse cities. Just last week, I was in a parking lot and saw someone toss their fast food wrappers out their car window like it was 1976, even though there was a trashcan not 3 feet away. Not two days later I saw someone else do the same thing while tooling down 85 South. In my neighborhood of million dollar homes, we have abandoned mattresses and shopping carts on the sidewalks. That didn't even happen in the crummiest neighborhoods I lived in elsewhere. To be fair, it's not that people don't litter in other places, they're just usually not so bold about it. It's like SJ is stuck in some weird time warp on this issue, and never got the memo that litter is nasty. Then add to it the homelessness problem and the funding problem and I guess you get a trash mess.

If you look a Google street view images which they had randomly took many times a year you will notice that trash issues alongside all the major and neighborhood roads were much much better in the years prior to the ban than afterwards. The bans started around 2012-2014 and images taken afterwards shows significantly greater litter. Then most infamous contrast is the 101 880 interchange down in San Jose. Prior to 2012 when the infamous ban took effect in San Jose the Ramps were pretty much free of litter. But afterwards it's like a landfill. The same thing happened in the Peninsula and the east Bay within Alameda county since 2013 when their bans went into effect. I also notice garbage spilling out of trucks into the neighborhoods much more after the ban when people through more unsecured garbage into the trash in. Believe it or not those grocerybags are the best tools to contain garbage as they are the easiest to tie. Even if they use Bin liners and large trash bags to substitute it often come untied spilling its contents and itself into the side of the road. Bags within the aisles are still free but they are far less reused so they are thrown into the garbage unsecured as along with all those other plastic wrappings our groceries come with which often end up blown away from the trash truck on the way to the dump. The whole thing is a solution in search of a problem.

[Litter SanJose]

I strongly agree with Caforniaguy2007. Everyone please raise your voice to The San Jose City, to the Sacramento. The City has to do something to catch and fine people who are littering. The best way to do right now, I ask everybody do not ignore when you see them. Please call 911 to report it.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Litter SanJose

I strongly agree with Caforniaguy2007. Everyone please raise your voice to The San Jose City, to the Sacramento. The City has to do something to catch and fine people who are littering. The best way to do right now, I ask everybody do not ignore when you see them. Please call 911 to report it.

That's not what 911 is for. Not even close to being an emergency.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by Litter SanJose

I strongly agree with Caforniaguy2007. Everyone please raise your voice to The San Jose City, to the Sacramento. The City has to do something to catch and fine people who are littering. The best way to do right now, I ask everybody do not ignore when you see them. Please call 911 to report it.

Seriously? I hate litter but this is ridiculous. 911 is for emergencies only. Dispatchers have enough trouble juggling actual emergency phone calls where peoples' lives could be at risk.

[PinaCarlotta]

This site was created by someone who was sick of the trash and dumping on Monterey highway, not to mention the many homeless encampments that have popped up in south San Jose lately.

https://sites.google.com/view/sanjoseaction

https://www.facebook.com/San-Jose-Ac...1713547904584/

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

As a life-long Bay Area resident, unfortunately I agree that this is true. I hate litter (and graffiti as well) and it drives me completely crazy! I don't know what the issue is with many people here. A lot of Bay Area natives take pride in being from here...yet, they don't take pride in keeping this place pristine. Other than exclusive, upscale Bay Area neighborhoods, litter is pretty much a problem throughout the Bay Area. It's very frustrating.

I've lived in Newark since 2009 and used to live in its best neighborhood, the Lake Area. It blew my mind the entire time I lived there just how many people threw cups, fast food trash, etc. along the roads around there. I used to keep a trash bag in the trunk of my car and would stop and pick up trash as I drove down the street on a regular basis. I no longer live in the area but still jog the lake frequently and can't believe how many people throw their trash out of their cars along the roads there.

When I lived in SJ, it was the same thing. I lived in a decent neighborhood too- and constantly found myself picking up after slobs.

I was in southern Ca just a couple weeks ago to go to Disneyland. I actually noticed that the freeways were much cleaner than Bay Area freeways- sad, since the population there is much higher.

Clearly it's a Bay Area mentality... and it sucks.

I hate to blame it on immigrants from 3rd world countries where littering is normal, but could that be a major culprit?

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by cBach

I can tell you that it is just as bad in Texas, I see people leave whole boxes of KFC chicken in parks. It has been worse than CA in every state I've lived.

I was surprised one time in Scotland when I was walking along a street with a Scottish lad. We had gotten some fast food and were walking as we were eating and drinking. He threw everything in the bushes when done. Very surprising.

I think litter is prevalent everywhere.

It really p*sses me off at how there can be so many lazy people who just don't effin care.

[mossly]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

I hate to blame it on immigrants from 3rd world countries where littering is normal, but could that be a major culprit?

I can't speak to other people's personal experiences, but litter was not as common in the DC area though there are many immigrants there.

Maybe the weather has something to do with it here - litterbugs are out and about all the time.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by RollTideLiz

In my worldview (and please, this is just my opinion), trash and immigrants are linked just as crime and minorities.
How this hits home, a relative of mine is seeing this Asian girl for many years, they live together now.
She is a mess, a rat-pack hoarder. Its an illness. And she has infected my relative.
There is no flat surface anywhere in her home where it is clear of clutter. Not even the floor.
I was told this girl loves craigslist "Free stuff" link and frequents it.
Someone else's trash is her treasure and she drives out to collect them and litter her house with more junk!
It is sad.

The issue is her hoarding, which is a mental disorder, rather than her ethnicity.

Hoarding affects people of all cultural backgrounds and a wide spectrum of income levels.