Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Let's talk trash: It's a criminal offense

Our friend, Karen Fox, writes:

Every year, residents of Birmingham pay their fair share of city taxes. Some of the money pays for necessary services like police, fire and emergency, education and infrastructure development. This probably comes as no surprise.

But what might surprise you is to learn that your tax money also supports the salaries of code inspectors who drive up and down the streets of Birmingham to monitor when you put your trash on the curb and when you remove your trash cans, if you use them.

Fellow citizens, let’s talk trash.

Did you know that you are committing a “criminal offense” if you put your trash outside more than 12 hours prior to the established pickup time or leave your trash cans after the 24 hour after pickup time? As ridiculous as it sounds, it’s a fact, and I learned the hard way.

My “crime” was putting my garbage outside a day before the 12-hour pick up time because I was leaving for a two-week business trip. Of course I had no idea my action would result in a citation accusing me of a criminal offense. While I unsuccessfully tried to resolve this issue with the City of Birmingham, I also found out what else our taxes pay for -- contractor fees to pay the prosecuting attorney, a non-city employee, to prosecute residents that commit such horrific criminal offenses.

With no recourse, I was forced to hire an attorney to help make sure I didn’t end up with a criminal record as I headed to court for judgment day. My citation was reduced to a driving violation for “impeding traffic,” and my sentence was to pay a $135 fine. While the amount may not be large, the absurdity of this situation is gigantic.

So let’s think about this. Residents of Birmingham pay more taxes compared to many other cities around the country. Why? Apparently so we can pay city employees and contracted prosecuting attorneys to take us -- the taxpayers -- to court for putting trash out a day early.

Should residents be allowed to put their garbage out whenever they want, for as long as they want? Of course not! Understandably, neighbors don’t want to see garbage sitting on the curb for days on end. However, putting trash out one day early certainly shouldn’t be considered a criminal offense. There are pedophiles, drug dealers, drunk drivers and murderers roaming the streets, while precious resources are wasted to prosecute people whose only offense is a trash can violation. Shouldn’t our tax dollars be put to better use?

Quite frankly, the whole situation is just garbage!