The TV people from CBS5 Eyewitness News saw the Bernalwood story this week about the problem we face with sleazy contractors and other forms of human lowlife dumping huge piles of trash at the foot of Bernal Hill. CBS5 sent a crew over to do a story about it, and along the way that prompted The City to clean up the mess ASAP. (Thank you, DPW!)
But the bad news is… it seems there’s not much that can be done to address the problem in the long term. A video camera might work once or twice, but thereafter the vermin are likely to either disable the camera or hide their license plates. Regardless, it might be worth a try, eh?
I can’t embed the video here, but click to view the CBS5 video about Bernal’s illegal dumping problem.
PHOTO: Neighbor Regina
Bernalwood 
Hey, neighbor Regina is on the scene! Nice to put a glamorous face to the local celebrity name.
Trail cameras are portable and come in camouflage! http://www.amazon.com/Primos-Truth-Cam-46-Camera/dp/B003K6W9G4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1329416066&sr=8-4
Count me against cameras. I’d rather not have video surveillance of the hill to save an occasional pile of trash that is quickly cleaned up.
Maybe the FOB (friend of Bernalwood) in that new modernist house on Folsom can put a webcam up on their roof deck and we can get a live feed on Bernalwood…
Check the previous post’s comments. Neighbor Regina said they’d tried, but couldn’t get a decent shot of the parking area. I’m guessing blackberry interference. Could a rooftop post like the ones MonkeyBrains use for their antennas be helpful? They’re in the neighborhood… http://monkeybrains.net/wireless.html
On the other hand, DPW is pessimistic (page 10):
http://www.sfdpw.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1043
“Past pilot studies of utilizing cameras in hotspots proved cost prohibitive with minimal results.”
It’s tempting to put up a video camera in the hopes of catching the next person who dumps trash. But that camera would record all activities performed by everyone who walks through the space that’s under surveillance, not just the evildoings of the scofflaws who dump trash. That’s an unacceptable invasion of privacy in my book.
Can’t really expect privacy in a public space, in my opinion. Everyone has the right to videotape or photograph in public. There have been many court cases on this, for example involving the videotaping of police, which is perfectly legal.
I’m not arguing it’s illegal, I’m arguing it’s not ideal. And, as jobius pointed out, likely a waste of time.
Indeed, something being legal does not make it right. The reason there have been many court cases is that many people are concerned about Big Brother watching us in our daily lives.
Private security cameras are more cost effective, newer and more easily managed than what the City can provide.