By Darell Dickey
I sit on your Bicycle Advisory Commission, I am a board member of Davis Bicycles!, and I am an active member in the Davis Bike Club. Today I write to you as an individual. I am a daily cyclist, and the father of a school-age cyclist who navigates our city streets on her daily trips to school and after-school activities.
Because the commission message from the BAC and board message from Davis Bicycles! regarding loose green waste pickup seems to have been drowned out by public concerns of decreased convenience, I will voice my personal, concise thought on the subject:
-> We need to rid our bike lanes of all green waste for the safety of our road users. <-
While I have countless photographs of blocked bike lanes, I only offer this one example from my daughter’s route to school. It is on 5th Street, in view of the police station, and was there for six days. This is not the image of a safe and bike-friendly town. And it is not in compliance with our Municipal Code:
35.01.020 – Obstructing street or sidewalk prohibited.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place upon any sidewalk or street or part thereof in the city, or to allow to stand or remain for an unreasonable length of time upon that portion of the sidewalk or street or part thereof within the city immediately abutting, traversing, or existing in front of such person’s real property or premises, any building, fence, vehicle, engine, piece of machinery, merchandise or other article or thing of any nature, including debris such as soil, gravel, tree litter (including leaves, fruit or seeds), moss, grass clippings or other loose or slippery material, which may obstruct the use and enjoyment of the street or sidewalk or which shall be detrimental to the appearance or public safety of the street or sidewalk.
The top priority in the green waste discussion needs to be the safety of our family members, friends and neighbors who choose to take the city up on its “bicycle friendly” promise and status. How bike friendly is a town that endangers its cyclists with blocked bike lanes 24/7/365? If one were to dump a load of green waste in the middle of a travel lane, we would quickly see the definition of “automobile friendly.”
Containerization has emerged as the most effective solution to the loose green waste safety issue. Containerized green waste has proven convenient and financially sound in countless California communities (and containerization can solve the storm drain and composting issues). Containers bind the waste into a defined, easy-to-see space.
Without containerization, we would need a daunting amount of code enforcement to keep our bike lanes clear. Loose green waste piles on the street already violate our municipal code, yet they exist every day of every week without consequence.
Though I have been working both privately and publicly to encourage more compliance of Davis Municipal Code 35.01.020, personal experience has shown me that enforcement alone will not create significant, long-term improvement. We must make it easy for residents and businesses to “do the right thing.” And containerization generally appears to be that way.
The loose/containerization compromise that was recently accepted by council will likely have little effect in cleaning up the bike lanes. At the same time, it will cost us more, and will force people to store a new bin – all in one package deal. Sometimes, as in this case, a compromise that includes all options is not a solution to the problem.
Just as people already ignore our existing municipal code, the tendency going forward will reasonably be to continue dumping waste in the bike lanes at the time landscaping is performed, especially at commercial properties.
Landscapers that maintain yards every week and dump the waste in the bike lane without penalty, will continue to do so. The piles will grow each week until that one time per month when the claw arrives.
We do not have the enforcement capacity to keep everybody in compliance, so there is no reason to expect more compliance with the new policy. Monthly loose-waste pickup only appeases those who value personal convenience over the safety of others.
We are likely to have the same piles in many of the same places. The piles will just be picked up less often. If we remove the monthly loose pickup and associated costs, and instead offer a flat-fee, on-call service, then each property owner will pay for what they “need” and may even find that their biowaste generation is more elastic than is currently assume.
I won’t battle against the two-month seasonal loose pickup at this point. It is the year-round loose piles that should be eliminated in order to clear out bike lanes of loose debris.
The only way I would support the continued rear-round dumping of green waste on our streets, is if the piles were confined to the travel lane of each street – and then only to make a point. Faced with the scenario of green waste piles blocking automobile travel, I would like to hear feedback from the non-cycling residents in regard to the convenience and safety of that policy.
Dumping the waste in the travel lane would be no more in violation of our Municipal code 35.01.020 than what happens today. And the recent adoption of the compromise green waste plan keeps a blind eye turned to our Municipal Code.
We can never make everybody happy. But we CAN make our most vulnerable road users safer. We need to eliminate the loose green waste piles on the street.
This was originally a letter to the city council dated April 15, 2014. Darell Dickey is a Davis Resident and sits on the Bicycle Advisory Commission as well as Davis Bicycles!
Do you have any data on the safety impacts of the current situation system?
You have asked this in the comments sections of several other articles on this same subject. The answer has not changed: There are no statistics kept on bicycle collisions – unless the collision involves an automobile or a pedestrian. Do not mistake the lack of hard data for the lack of a serious issue. Talk to people who cycle regularly in town. Those who commute at night will have at least a horror story for you, and possibly some scars and hospital bills. I don’t know of anybody who’s been killed yet, but I know many who have racked up significant hospital bills, and have missed work from the result of hitting a green pile on the street with their bicycle. Every cyclist I know who rides in town regularly has been endangered by a green waste pile at some point. At the last BAC meeting, a letter from a seriously injured cyclist who hit a pile on Lake Blvd was read publicly. The sustained injuries and financial losses of the individual are sobering. This was an adult cyclist on his regular commute to work on UCD campus.
If that picture above was on your school-age-daughter’s route to school every day, would you need data to determine that the situation is unsafe? Or is forcing her out into the busy car traffic just an acceptable part of bicycle travel in Davis?
You don’t think those piles are dangerous because we don’t have data? Strap on your helmet and come ride through town with me on one of these fine evenings. Bring a good light, reflective gear, a rear-view mirror, and be prepared to cycle at travel speeds (vs family ride in the park speeds). I have offered the same invitation to Bob Dunning after each of his published anti-cycling tirades.
Do you have any data on the safety impacts of the current situation system?
How about this?
Mont Hubbard
From: Andrew Tritt
Subject: bike accident
Date: March 28, 2014 2:16:34 PM PDT
To: ryneches@ucdavis.edu
On one morning of early March of 2011, at approximately 11:00 am PST, I was riding my bike in the designated bike lane, traveling south, on Lake Blvd in Davis, CA. I commuted to work via this route daily.
I rode past the Stonegate Country Club, a place where people frequently exercise and play with their dogs. It was then that a dog started barking at me. Startled, I looked toward the direction of the dog. At this same time, I was traveling around a slight bend in the road, for the road slightly curves to the right at this point. When I returned my sight to the road in front of me, I saw a large pile of green waste that consisted of lawn trimmings, dirt, and other yard waste. I immediately engaged my breaks; however, because I was traveling at considerable speed, I was unable to slow down in time to prevent colliding with the pile of green waste. The pile of green waste was dense enough such that my bicycle stopped completely, and, as a result, I was unseated and ejected over my handle bars onto the pavement.
My forearms made first contact with the pavement. As this happened my, body remained in a downward and forward motion, resulting in my chin and left side of my face, as well as my knees, to hit the pavement. After coming to a stop, I stood up, and was unable to bend either of my arms. The woman, whose dog was barking, saw the accident, and immediately ran to my assistance. She retrieved my bike and helped me walk back to my apartment, which was nearby at Lakeshore Apartments at 1275 Lake Blvd, Davis, CA.
After arriving at home around 11:05 am PST, my sister, Allison Tritt, drove me to emergency room at Sutter Hospital, located at 2000 Sutter Pl, Davis, CA. At the emergency room, I was treated for a laceration on my chin, an incomplete fracture at the proximal end of my left radius, sprains to both my left and right wrists, and numerous abrasions on the rest of my body, including both of my knees, both of my elbows and my face. The laceration on my chin was treated with five surgical sutures, which had to be removed roughly 10 days later, requiring me to visit my primary care physician. The fracture to my radius, which was not treatable with an orthopedic cast, was immobilized in a sling. The sprains to both of my wrists were treated by immobilizing with orthotic wrist braces.
At the time of the accident, I was employed by the UC Davis Genome Center, where my occupation required me to use a keyboard, a task that requires mobility in elbows and wrists. As a result of this accident, my injuries left my wrists immobile, and I was not able to work for 7 days. When I returned to work, I had limited mobility in my wrists for roughly 3 weeks following, making work difficult. Because of my injuries, my wrists were only able to bear minimal weight. As I was unable to ride a bicycle for 6 weeks following the accident or any other activity that required my wrists to bear weight. Furthermore, the limited mobility of my wrists and elbows affected my ability to conduct common household activities such as cleaning and cooking, as well as basic hygienic tasks such as brushing my teeth and bathing.
In addition to the inconveniences placed my daily life, I had to pay for medical expenses that totaled roughly $100.
I thoroughly believe that if the pile of green waste was not located in the bike lane, I would have not been in this accident.
Andrew Tritt
986 55th St
Oakland, CA 94608
(608) 438 – 0386
andrew.j.tritt@gmail.com
“We do not have the enforcement capacity to keep everybody in compliance, so there is no reason to expect more compliance with the new policy. Monthly loose-waste pickup only appeases those who value personal convenience over the safety of others.”
Darrel has this right in more ways than one. Leaving piles of waste, “green” or not, in the bicycle lane , or simply in front of one’s home or business values personal convenience of a specific group of citizens over all others.
1. Adults over children and adolescents. Those over 16 are the only ones allowed to drive cars. Blocking bike
but not car lanes clearly favors this group at a time when we state as a community that we are trying to
encourage our children to ride their bikes and then place obstacles in their way.
2. Automobile users over users of other means of transportation. As Darrel rightfully points out, this would
likely be unacceptable if it were the automobile lanes that were blocked.
3. Home and business owners over other members of the community, There are adverse effects of curbside
“green” waste disposal beyond those related to bike use. In residential areas, these piles limit access to
parking for other members of the neighborhood and their visitors. And finally, they are unsightly. Whatever
gave us the idea that it is ok to leave piles of our refuse curbside for others to have to negotiate around
or see on a regular basis ? For a potentially a month at a time ? Really ?
To me this is a prime example of individual’s selfishness causing a need for “government”, in this case the city, to have to step in with regulations. Obviously, if everyone stored their refuse on their own property until time for pickup, or arranged for pickup and disposal themselves, their would be no need for city intervention at all. So how about those of you who opposed the more rigorous containerization putting pressure on the members of the community who are creating this issue in the first place to deal with their own mess rather than pressuring the city to allow the mess to continue ?
Thank you Tia. My letter published above was written to all City Council members, and thus could not pack in all the details I wanted. Thank you for fleshing out more of the issue. Note that we already have the regulations against this (quoted in my letter) – What the selfishness is requiring is an inordinate amount of enforcement time that should not be squandered on things like this that are so easy to self-police in our community.
You know we have a tricky problem when some of our residents (including my neighbor) imply that there’s no real need to do anything because there is no hard data proving the danger.
Mr. Toad wrote:
> Do you have any data on the safety impacts
> of the current situation system?
I don’t have any “data” but as some who spends a lot of time in bike lanes I have seen a lot of “close calls” where people (usually kids) swerve in to traffic to avoid the piles in the bike lanes and are almost hit by a car.
I have lived all over the state and everyone else but the people of Davis seem to be OK with bins for yard waste. I know for a fact that gardeners in the region use Davis as a (literal) “dumping ground” for yard waste (why go to the dump and pay when you can dump on Davis streets for FREE).
With budget cuts coming who (besides the driver of the “claw”) thinks it is a good idea to send TWO guys in TWO vehicles (burning TWICE as much diesel and pumping out TWICE as much carbon) taking TWICE as long as ONE guy and ONE truck in we had green bins.
I hadn’t even considered how easy it would be for a landscaper to freely dump their waste on Davis streets after servicing commercial properties in other towns. Sadly, this make sense as I often see automobile-sized piles in areas that cannot generate that much bio mass.
Yes, our new policy will cost everybody more, and STILL allows endless loose green waste piles on the street. Amazing.
Yesterday I had three young people roll through a stop sign make a right turn in front of me. Since they were riding three abreast and not paying attention and a car was coming through the opposite direction I had to brake and barely avoided hitting one of them.
Recently I saw a guy with a kid in a bike trailer turn early to avoid and run a stop sign and a car ending up on the wrong side of the street in the lane facing traffic and wondered about the behavior he was modeling for his kid.
On any evening you can go out and observe about one in three bikes without lights. On one recent night not only did I have difficulty seeing one such person but that person made no attempt to ride defensively. That person was lucky I got a glimpse before he cut me off. We need enforcement alright but its not the type the author suggests.
I do agree with two points the author makes. Monthly green waste pick up from the street will make things worse and we need enforcement for impeding traffic when piles completely block marked bike lanes. On my street there is a parking lane and then a bike lane. It is a main bike thoroughfare. There is no reason for debris to either be containerized or block the bike lane. There is plenty of room for everyone if people behave appropriately. Still I’d like some data that is not anecdotal on the safety issue as I remain unconvinced this is the major problem the bike advocates claim.
You insist on hard evidence of the dangers of green waste in the bike lane, then offer up anecdotal evidence that cyclists need to be reigned in. I understand that cyclists break laws and endanger others. So do automobile drivers. That is another battle for another day. This is about allowing our most vulnerable road users the use of the lanes that we have painstakingly created for them.
How would you feel about green waste if it were regularly piled in the middle of the travel lane, hundreds of places in town, every day of every week?
Do you have any data on the safety impacts of allowing this practice? Until you can prove that this is not a safe practice I think we should start implementing it.
Sadly, no data…
When you realize that it is no more and no less a violation of our muni code to dump waste directly in the middle of the traffic lane, than it is to dump it into the bike lane, it sort of puts things into perspective doesn’t it? About the respect that each mode of transportation receives? In fact when a branch or something else does fall in the traffic lane, it is *immediately* pushed off into the…. wait for it… bike lane.
Mr Toad wrote:
> Yesterday I had three young people roll through a stop sign
It is not just young people on bikes doing “roll through” aka “California stops”. Not long ago I was talking to a friend at a corner in Old North Davis. We were laughing as some cars barely slowed at all for the stop signs. After we started to look to see if any cars came to a “complete stop” more than 50 cars passed the intersection (4 way stop) without even one (some did come close) making a “complete” (wheels stopped moving) stop.
[levity]
Cars get a free pass. They have an innate right to the road. They’re big. They’re expensive. They’ve fast and they’re often quite shiny. And they’re driven by important people who need to get places. Cyclists, on the other hand, must earn this right to the road by obeying all law at all times as they go about their care-free lives with no meaningful destination in mind. And until all cyclists follow all those laws, it’s only prudent to teach cyclists a lesson by placing random piles of trash in their lanes. If the pesky muni code starts getting enforced, at least we can keep bike theft levels high enough to keep the cyclists on their toes.
[/levity]
The argument that bikes violate laws and therefore no safety improvements should be made is inane. I as a bicyclist despise bicyclists that behave in such a manner as well. I could put forth the argument that downtown should be shut off from all cars and made into a car-free mall because of (site any of multiple examples of cars violating the law and/or almost running into pedestrians and bicycles that I have seen). Makes as much sense.
Don’t sell yourself short, Alan! Your argument makes much *more* sense!
Thanks Darell. Our current practice of allowing people to place waste in the street at any time does not seem reasonable. There are ordinances regulating how soon before pick-up waste receptacles can be placed in the street and how soon after pick-up they need to be removed from the street. I don’t understand why similar rules don’t apply to green waste.
If we move ahead with system laid out by council I would urge them to pass an ordinance that states that green waste, like trash and recycling, can only be put out the night before pick-up.
I hope that people will also be urged to use their container first and only place waste in the street after the container is full.
While the method adopted by council is not perfect, I am hopeful that it is just the first step in the right direction.
Thanks, Michelle –
You are correct that we have no time limit for the green waste piles – at least nothing beyond the “reasonable time” language in the Municipal Code that I quoted. But even if we DID have a time limit spelled out in the code, nothing would be different. Just as it won’t be different with the new hybrid containerization plan that’s been adopted. It is already illegal to block the bike lanes for even a minute, yet it happens every day of the year. Green waste simply gets tossed into the street when it is generated. Containerization will help that – just as it does with garbage and recyclables. But as long as we still allow loose pile pickup, we will have those piles out there 24/7/365.
I have the same hope that the new policy adopted by council will lead to better things. But I still don’t understand council’s willingness to sacrifice safety for landscaping convenience.
We have no enforcement today. The new plan requires far more enforcement to be of any help to our road users. I’m not holding my breath.
Mr. Toad
I agree with you that safety data on this issue would be useful. However, it is not just the bike advocates that believe that containerization is superior to our historical or current plan.
I have a question for you. Other than the fact that this is historically how green waste has been handled in Davis, what , in your mind makes the disposal of “green” waste different from that of any other waste ?
Why not pile our trash or recyclables in piles on the street to await city pick up ? As long as they were weighted down so as not to blow around, what would be the difference ? I certainly am not advocating this but then I am also a proponent of each individual taking responsibility for the containment and or prompt removal of their own waste rather than using the city streets as their dumping ground regardless of the nature of the waste.
Rats are attracted to food waste not green waste. There is a sanitation difference.
A lot of trash isn’t food related and thus will not attract rats. Should we just be able to dump that in the street when we are finished with it?
I thought you didn’t have any trash?
I don’t count it as trash unless I put it into the garbage can. Why should I have to the suffer the inconvenience of storing a garbage can. I just throw anything we don’t want into the street whenever I’m finished with it.
Mr. Toad
I’ll spot you that one on food waste. How about rinsed out recyclables and paper ?
Mr. Toad, do you have data on that sanitation difference? Specific to Davis rats and Davis garbage?
See how this whole “show me the data instead of the anecdote” thing cuts both ways? Some things in life are so obvious that data is not needed. That it is dangerous for school kids to be forced into the path of speeding 6,000 pound automobiles is one of them.
I realize that you don’t agree with containerization. But hanging your argument on the lack of convincing data for piles being a danger for cyclists is running thin.
>> There is a sanitation difference. <<
Super easy fix! The food waste now goes in the green bin (or your back yard compost pile). So the REST of our sanitary garbage can then be dumped on the street. Rinsed recyclables too. I can think of all kinds of things I could dump on the street that wouldn't attract rats. And it would sure be convenient for me every time I get a garage-clean-out urge.
Michelle
“If we move ahead with system laid out by council I would urge them to pass an ordinance that states that green waste, like trash and recycling, can only be put out the night before pick-up.”
Absolutely agree with you on this. I see no reason that there should be “special dispensation” for “green waste”
as opposed to other forms of refuse.
Vigilante enforcement: digital picture of trash pile, digital picture of address, emailed to a city address, generating an automatic $100 penalty mailed to the property owner of record. No need to verify; just mail it out. The owner can contest it if they feel it was unwarranted.
Yes Don, there’s already rules and ordinances in place.
The rules are easy. The enforcement, not so much.
Here we go again turning neighbor against neighbor. Like the smoke ordinance proposal where anyone living within three hundred feet of your home could get you a citation this is a bad idea and unenforceable.
Well Mr. Toad, I see piling your waste on the street in my neighborhood as a “neighbor against neighbor action”. What makes Don’s “vigilante enforcement” any more egregious than neighbor limiting another’s use or enjoyment of a public resource, the street ?
You take a picture, you send it in. The city isn’t adequately staffed to enforce the laws on the books. It is, in fact, very enforceable. Picture shows pile and house, separate picture shows address. Letter gets sent. How do you propose enforcing the existing law?
Have parking enforcement do it if you must. Problem is if your gardener comes on a day that isn’t right before pick up you are criminalized.
But let us cut to the chase and get down to the real issue, at least for me. For myself and many other older residents trying to age in place picking it up and putting it in a bin is a problem. Its simply physically hard. Most of it the gardeners can do and I’m lucky enough to be able to afford one, although they will probably charge more, but sometimes I’m going to be stuck with tree limbs and other material that is too hard to handle. I think this is what the council was trying to do with the once a month thing. Most of it goes in the bin but if something is a problem you are not a violator for being old or handicapped and why its hard to enforce the day before thing if your gardener comes on the wrong day. What I see when I watch the council and listen to the bike advocates or the mayor is healthy people demanding things that are simple for them but difficult for certain classes of people without any desire for accommodating the needs of their neighbors. If you look at who is opposed to containerization my guess is its older residents who are just trying to stay in their homes and keep up with their yards. Find a way to accommodate seniors and the disabled and you have solved the problem and you can move forward but imposing this on people without consideration of their special needs in a one size fits all manner is going to continue to be a struggle.
That is so far beyond impractical that I conclude that you don’t actually want to enforce this.
Not the way you propose.
One way to do it is have the city issue exemptions to seniors or people with health issues. Then DWR could have the addresses on file and send a truck around. This would reduce most of the problem while being sensitive to the people who want to live out their lives here in flatland.
You could also issue them red cones to put out for safety.