Alert Neighbor Photographs Illegal Trash Dump In-Progress on Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin

dumptrash1

If you drove along the south side of Bernal Hill yesterday afternoon, you might have noticed this pile of illegally dumped trash at the east end of the park.

The pile of trash probably made you feel sad.

The pile of trash probably made you feel angry.

The pile of trash probably made you wonder: Who were the wretched asshats who left that pile of trash there?

Well, wonder no more. A Bernal neighbor photographed two men in the act of dumping their refuse on our lovely hill at 1:45 pm yesterday.  Check it out:

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Here’s a nice head-on view of the perps in-progress:

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Let’s zoom and enhance to vector in on one of the men’s faces, shall we?

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Unfortunately, there’s no license plate on the front of the van. But that’s okay, because the van had a handy-dandy U-Haul vehicle number on the bumper. Another zoom and enhance:

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Ah.  Nice and clear: U-Haul Vehicle # BE 7747 N

So, in theory, it should be a relatively straightforward matter to track down the records which show who had custody of U-Haul vehicle BE 7747 N on Oct. 8, 2013 at 1:45 pm, and bring them to justice. Right?

Well, maybe.

Bernalwood really really really hopes the SFPD will follow up on this incident, because the last time we provided the City with direct evidence of an illegal dumping, the Assistant DA  never pursued a prosecution in the case, even though Bernalwood had photos of a hauling truck with a frikkin’ phone number on the side going up and down the hill in the middle of the night (which we withheld from publication at the DA’s request).

Which made us sad.

And frankly, rather angry.

So here’s more evidence of a dumping incident on Bernal Hill.

Take it away, Assistant DA.

UPDATE: A quick reminder by Neighbor Sarah from the SFPD Beat:

Obvious question: did anyone report it to SFPD?  Remember: crimes in progress, even things like dumping, mean you should call 911.

22 thoughts on “Alert Neighbor Photographs Illegal Trash Dump In-Progress on Bernal Hill”

  1. If we can somehow find their identities, I’ve got a ton of junk in my basement I’d love to dump on their property.

  3. Calling non-emergency Police at 553-0123 is always a good idea in this situation. Gets the police there to cite them immediately.

  4. Perhaps David Campos or one of his staff can nudge the SFPD / DA on this one? That would be a lovely supervisorial thing to do.

    And why does that vehicle not have a front license plate? That is required in California. I got a ticket for that on a vintage car I had for awhile (RIP). It seems unfair that a rental agency can flout this law.

    • Most likely Campos won’t do a thing unless the junk is dumped in his front yard.
      As for no license plate, most likely the dumpers took the plates off the truck to make it difficult to ID. Luckily, they did not take off the UHaul tag number.

    • A front plate is only required to be displayed in California if the car was registered in a state which issues 2 plates (such as California.) Many states, like Arizona, only issue one plate. Most (all?) of U-Haul’s vehicles are registered in Arizona and will therefore not have front plates.

  5. my experience with the police department and most of city services is that it is all about PR and trying to make you feel good but, in effect, doing nothing in terms of catching or citing anyone. The police # is a good idea. I’d be curious to see if it works.

  6. Not sure about how prosecuting people for this action works, but I’ve had luck reporting illegal garbage dumping to @SF311 on Twitter. They usually respond with a case # quickly and the junk is gone within a few days.

  7. Gross.. But I’m very glad that someone was able to catch them in the act. Hopefully the SFPD will actually take this seriously.

  8. Funny enough – this morning I saw some kids throwing bags of clothes outside on the sidewalk on putnam and tompkins.

  9. Obvious question: did anyone report it to SFPD? Remember: crimes in progress, even things like dumping, mean you should call 911.

  10. Let’s hope this one gets some traction. It was infuriating when the last documented case was swept under the rug.

  11. Sincere good luck on getting the city to respond to this and maybe even getting the authorities to consider dumping a priority problem. When it happens on the hill, it’s very noticeable, but it goes on all over the city.

  12. This is nothing new up here. There used to be a wooden barrier at the East Quarry to keep just such trucks and motorcycles off the hill. The barrier rotted, was removed and now you can see how easy it is to unload. Before that there was a steel barrier – also removed. Rec & Park is supposed to be working on this and repairing the trail system as well.

  13. I think that the City Attorney’s office also deals with this sort of neighborhood nuisance issues.

  15. i’m glad someone captured the mideed…but I’ve been largely disappointed in recology’s program for bulky item pick ups…they only allow 2 per year and you must list out what’s being put out for pickup. some things they won’t take and if it exceeds a certain number they won’t allow it. ALSO
    my pet peeve is that landlords don’t inform tenants about this service so they have no idea what to do. shouldn’t a landlord be mandated to inform their tenants when they take their deposit and first month’s rent? the tenant should have to read and sign a document that spells this out. even if some won’t comply – i think many will

  16. Please publish the earlier photos of the truck with the phone number on the side, so Bernal neighbors can call and request they respect our hill.

  17. there does seem to be an uptick in these. All over powhattan (near bernal heights blvd) I feel like people are always dropping things there. Its very annoying. Hate people that use bernal as a dumping ground.

  19. Pingback: Your Bernal Heights Crime Report for October 2013 | Bernalwood

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