After Waiting for More Than a Month - Donation Bins Finally GONE

It's finally GONE!  Took you long enough.

After an entire month of waiting and some heavy handed persistence to the city government to do something, the donation bins blocking public a parking space and meter have finally been moved away.

Initially when I reported on the bins at the corner of Evelyn and Portola, I got a surly response from San Francisco 311 that they want me to call the donation bin company for blocking a city parking space, therefore the SFMTA makes zero revenue on the parking meter.  After giving the 311 folks a kick in the shin, they forward my request to DPW to get the ball rolling.

Three weeks after my initial request, the bins still remained and the city "escalated" the issue because it was taking too long for the task to be completed.  The city contacted the company on February 11th and demanded for them to remove the bins.

Sometime within the last seven days, the bins finally departed.  I know for sure they were still there on March 2nd because I always pick-up some lotto tickets at the market on the corner.

I'm happy that the city took action to get the donation bin company to move their bins off of public property because on some weekends, the lot can get full, and the city doesn't make any revenue on the parking meter.  But I'm very disappointed at the long wait because DPW should have moved it themselves after giving a week's notice and send the bill to the donation bin company.  Those donation bin companies knows they are NOT supposed to put those on public property and should only be on private property with the permission of the land owner.

Update: After Three Weeks, Donation Bins Still Blocking Parking Space & Meter

Taking photos of the bins as proof the city has done nothing

Three weeks ago, I reported about two private donation bins at the corner of Evelyn and Portola that's blocking a public parking space and parking meter.

My argument for getting these bins removed is very simple, it's on public property and the city is generating zero money on the loss of parking revenue since the meter is literally unusable.

As citizens, when we want to report on problems, we simply contact SF 311 on the phone, file an online report, or their Twitter account @SF311.

When I first reported it to 311, their response wasn't that friendly; by asking me to do the dirty work of contacting the private company to remove it.  But I know that if the city makes the call to the company, they'll have to listen because it's the city government demanding removal.

I sent a message back to 311 asking them to do it, and they promised to handle the problem by having DPW issue a correction notice to the company within five days.  That was January 28th.

Expecting the city to do their job in good faith and get those bins removed, I visited the exact location on February 9th, two weeks after my initial report to 311.  They were still there.  Here's proof:

@sf311 RE: SR#1944688 I took photo yesterday & donation bins blocking city parking meter still there. Follow-up? twitter.com/AgentAkit/stat…
— Akit (@AgentAkit) February 10, 2013

311's response on the failure of removal of the bins:

@agentakit Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have escalated this matter over to DPW to investigate. ^ mm
— SF311 (@SF311) February 10, 2013

So the folks at 311 promised me an escalated response, which means this is being given priority.  I've been taking photos of the bins on a regular basis just to show as proof the city hasn't been forcing the company to remove the bins, or that DPW should be confiscating them in the name of the public interest.

But now it's February 17th, and just last night, I reported to 311 that the bins are still there, and provided photographic proof (as seen on the top of this blog entry).  Here's 311's response to the matter:

@agentakit Please call 311 so we can discuss this issue with you more in depth
— SF311 (@SF311) February 17, 2013

I just called 311 and here's what they are telling me:
The last entry of the report is that on February 10th (after the case was "escalated") DPW accepted the request, and a DPW supervisor of the Bureau of Street Use contacted the vendor demanding removal on February 11th.  The 311 operator noted my call and update that the bins are still there.

Now it's February 17th, AND IT'S STILL THERE.  Do I need ask Stanley Roberts of KRON's "People Behaving Badly" for help?