Dumpster Expansion Party

The city of SLO passed a new law recently requiring that all property owners keep their recycling bins stored away from the curb and out of plain view from the street. Violators face a ticket and a fine. It seemed a bit silly at the time, but if you've ever walked through my downtown neighborhood early on a Sunday morning you'll see blue and green bins spilled over up and down the block. They're too ripe a target for partiers on the way home from the bars, I suppose.

Wanting to avoid a fine that would need to be absorbed the the homeowners' association, my condo project got right on the issue, consulting with the city and the garbage company on what would be an acceptable storage area. We built an enclosure -- at a cost of several hundred dollars -- that fit quite nicely next to our trash enclosure.

Some of the college kids in our complex even got into the spirit of the thing and organized a "Dumpster Expansion Party," holding a ribbon cutting and BBQ to which we were all invited. We had a great time and it was a good ice-breaker between the college students and the regular folks who live there.

Here's the flyer for that event:

My favorite part is "Ribbon cutting @ 7:10 followed by otter pops"

Now comes word that 4 of the 5 sitting SLO city council members are in open violation of the ordnance. Andrew Carter, the boorish harrumph who was leader of the city's recent anti-union Measures A&B, remained openly defiant and largely unrepentant when confronted about the unlawful location of his bins. Hey there fella, get with the program. I didn't write the law...you did.

So here we have four city officials openly ignoring a law they wrote -- a law most residents still view as ridiculous but has cost many no small expense. That's just the sort of "above the law" behavior that sours us all on politicians.