This Week In Noe Valley: Happy New Year, High Tech Cheaters, And The Cost Of Living In Noe

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• 3br house for rent - only $8100 [Craigslist]
• Dawn breaks on New Year's Day [NVSF]
• Cash was king in SF 2012 home sales [SFRE]
• Recycling scavengers are costing you money [SFGate]
• A demented Noe Valley man's caretaker takes away the cat he cared for the last nine years; cat reunited with family that lost it [The Inquisitr] 
• A river otter at home at the Sutro Baths. How cute is that? [SF Appeal]
• Noe Valley #4 in cuckolding; IT workers lead the way in infidelity [The Snitch]

[Photo: Koji Kawano Photography]

This Week in Noe Valley: Wild Pepper Redux, Trash Scavengers and Deep Wine Walk Discounts

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Wild Pepper gets a remodel and a new chef [Mission Local]
• Skateboarders interrupt dance class at James Lick (and gloat) [Thrasher] 
• Noe Valley housing market still on fire – with no signs of cooling [Zephyr] 
• SF Street Food Festival this weekend [SF Station] 
• Noe Valley resident says neighborhood is being overrun by trash scavengers [KTVU] 
• NV Wine Walk sales must be slow - tickets (once again) 50% off [Living Social and GotDailyDeals] 

[Photo: St. Paul's at moonrise from Automatt.com] 

Crime Report: Scavengers

In addition to detailing recent armed robberies, burglaries and drug arrests in the Mission in his weekly newsletter, Mission Station Captain Stephen Tacchini addressed the problem of recycling scavengers:

Over the past few weeks I have received complaints from residents in the district regarding noise, littering, and suspicious persons with pickup trucks, carts, and gargage bags related to the removal of recyclable goods from containers. Upon checking with representatives of Sunset Scavenger, I have come to learn this is a significant and costly problem city wide. Who suffers from the loss of this significant material? You--the neighborhood residents.

The dumping of the recycle bins by unauthorized persons is evident by the debris, broken glass, liquid, and papers they leave on the street, creating a public safety hazard and exacerbated litter problem. This results in the Department of Public Works having to come out to clean up the mess, at a cost borne by taxpayers.

Officers from Mission Station will be working towards reducing the types of complaints related to this problem and assistance from the public will be very helpful. In the spirit of community policing I request citizens who observe persons removing recyclable goods from containers on the street, by other than Department of Public Works or Sunset Scavenger personnel to report their observations to SFRecycling.com. This will provide information as to where, when and by whom, using what type of vehicle this activity is being conducted. Your assistance will help us to identify the persons responsible and we can proceed from there to abate the associated problems neighborhoods are experiencing.

It is important to recycle and be as energy and environmentally efficient as possible. It is also important to maintain clean and safe streets while working towards reducing the amount of garbage going into land fills. Reducing the incidence of the theft of recyclable goods will result in fewer noise complaints, cleaner / safer streets, and potentially lower service charges.

Timely, because since a San Francisco Judge "ordered a dozen of the city's most prolific recycling scavengers to stop looting bottles, cans and cardboard from curbside bins" last month they seem to be out in stronger force.

[SFRecycling: Report Form]
[NVSF: Recycling Theft = $469,000]
[SFGate: Judge orders scavengers to stop raiding trash]

Recycling Theft = $469,000

Sunset Scavenger's latest newsletter describes the growing nuisance of recycling thieves:

Thousands of city residents have filed complaints about groups of poachers stealing bottles and cans from blue recycling carts and dumping recyclables into beat-up trucks crudely fashioned to carry big payloads.

Residents report that recycling thieves wake families in the middle of the night, throw newspaper and other materials on the ground (leaving homeowners to deal with the mess) and trespass onto private property. One San Francisco resident said she was assaulted by a recycling thief after asking the poacher not to take her recyclables.

This isn't news, but for the first time they've put a price tag on it: $469,000 in taxpayer money.

So how do you feel about it? Benign? Annoying? A menace? Do you think it's actually hurting anyone, or is Sunset Scavenger whining about lost revenue? And if "thousands" have complained, why isn't anything being done to stop it locally (as opposed to AB 1778)?

If you'd like to express yourself, here's some contact information:

• Sunset Scavenger: Recycle Theft Form (they'll compile info and send to the City)
• SFPD non-emergency line: (415) 553-0123 (to report theft in-progress)
• Bevan Dufty
• Mayor Newsom's Noe Valley Liaison: Alex Randolph - email, (415) 554-6267