Curbside confusion

Taking out the trash is not as easy as it sounds for Beverly Trobman.
After her store closes at 5:30 p.m., the owner of Maxie’s Daughter, 724 S. Fourth St., habitually places her garbage on the curb on days prior to collection. For more than 10 years, this routine proved harmless — until this year.

Trobman received two violations for trash-related incidents. The recent one, which involved the placement of trash on the sidewalk before a designated time, was issued in June. Trobman did not receive the violation until earlier this month.

City officials informed the business owner fines are administered to those who set their trash out before 8 p.m. on the night before collection. Most South Philly residents, excluding those on Bainbridge Street and areas north, need to place their garbage on the curb after 7 p.m. to avoid a $25 fine.

"How in the world can we possibly do that?" asked Trobman, who resides in Ventnor, N.J. "None of [the merchants] live here. Nobody wants to wait around until eight o’clock at night, with all the stores closed here."

Residents and business owners alike are venting over a string of recent ticketing, they say, is administered unfairly. Individuals who never received fines for their trash before note they now are monitoring their sidewalks — and the clock — very closely.

Prior to the recent violation, Trobman also received a fine for litter in front of her store.

"I’m on the corner," she said. "People drive by, throw their trash out and I get the ticket."

Since she is home on the weekends, Trobman said she is unable to sweep the refuse on those days. She plans to contest her second violation during her scheduled court date in October 2006.

"We’re a business street and the city makes it so difficult for us," said Rose Blumenthal, owner of Jack B. Fabrics at Fourth and Fitzwater streets. "I’m here almost 30 years and I don’t remember being harassed as much as we are now. They have to make some concessions for store owners."

THE STREETS DEPARTMENT sends special officers from its Streets and Walkways Education and Enforcement Program, or SWEEP, to enforce trash regulations, said Emily Buenaflor, Streets Department spokesperson. These regulations have been in place for years under the city’s Home Rule Charter, she added.

The city’s trash collection service is "intended for residents," but the department does "accommodate businesses as long as they comply with regulations," Buenaflor said.

Those businesses unable to obey the law may have to seek private collection services, she added.

But residents also are griping about being kicked to the curb. Bill Fleming received a violation Sept. 13 for trash, he said, was not his. The day prior, his neighbor had her carpets replaced and the refuse was positioned in front of his residence on the 2500 block of South 12th Street.

"It wasn’t my trash," Fleming said. "If I was guilty, I would have put the check in the mail. But it’s not my trash and I can’t pay the $25."

Fleming’s neighbor wanted to pay the ticket, but he told her no.

"We’ve been good friends for 16 years and I’m not going to jeopardize our friendship for something stupid like this," he said.

Buenaflor maintained the Streets Department is not partaking in any "crackdown" on residents not abiding by trash regulations.

"We have been receiving complaints from residents about neighbors putting their trash out early," she said. "We’ve been responding to those complaints."

Residents who believe they received an erroneous violation can appeal the ticket, Buenaflor said.

While perturbed his court date is set for August 2006 due to the city’s busy court schedule, Fleming did applaud the prohibition of placing trash curbside before 7 p.m.

"You don’t have people throwing out trash two days before trash day so it doesn’t blow all over the city," he said.

Joe Vendetti, Fleming’s neighbor, was unaware of the law until a cluster of residents began receiving fines.

"I’ve been a violator all of these years. I’m lucky I haven’t gotten a ticket," he said.

Now familiar with the law, Vendetti wonders if the city will implement additional regulations.

"Does this mean I will get a ticket if I put [my trash] on my patio earlier?" he said. "Where does it end?"

For more information on the Street’s Department guidelines for trash collection, call 215-686-5560 or visit www.phila.gov/streets.