Peg Achterman shares her couchrage:
Once it rains even one time – or the crows decide there is something tantalizing in there – or just one dog raises a leg. NO ONE WILL PICK IT UP.
Could we just agree that one day is enough? And there are many many vans that will pick up. Please? It’s just silly and unsightly.
Here are some resources:
Seriously – it just takes a phone call.
Agree.
There is a FB group For posting curb sitings of things like couches. I’ll get the URL.
https://m.facebook.com/AmySueMartin/posts/10152945854538500?comment_id=10152945888488500&offset=0&total_comments=1&src=email_notif#!/curbalertwallingford?ref=bookmark
According to the Seattle Public Utilities: Bulky items can be picked up for a fee. Call 206-684-3000.
I used to fulminate about the couches out on the curb as well, until I had a couch to get rid of. Called SPU to have it picked up. It sat out on the street for a few days before they came to get it, but eventually they did. So Peg, it’s entirely possible that that couch was not put out by deadbeat neighbors, but that they’ve arranged for SPU to get it and we just need to wait a couple of days for it to happen.
I like the idea of giving stuff away for free but I feel for people whose boulevards become the ellected dumping space for the blocks unwanted stuff. Consequently I never feel right about dumping stuff on the corner. Alternatively, I place it on my boulevard, and post on craigslist. So, I ask you neighborhood watchdogs, is it acceptable or not to drop stuff on these dedicated corners?
There’s also a few app based services you can get to haul it off. When I got a new couch last year, I used taskrabbit to hire a van to haul it off. Oy cost me $30.
It’s possible too that the couch is from an apartment housing UW students who are moving and they just don’t care.
The couches, (and mattresses) that end up on the street are there because people are for whatever reason too cheap or too poor to dispose of them properly. The couch in the picture was trash even before it was rained on or worse. Someone did not want to pay the transfer station fee to get rid of it.
I do admit that part of the problem is the north transfer station being closed, and having to figure out how to get something large like that to South Seattle, might be making things worse.
Sign of the times, I guess.
Household goods, from pots, pans, and place settings to tables, sofas, and more can go to people transitioning from homelessness to “permanent” housing by giving to The Sharehouse – Seattle’s furniture bank for homeless …
They work with the agencies who help people make the transition so that those who need the basics can access them when they are ready for them–when or soon after they move in!
If you have items in good condition, you can even ask for them to be picked up at your location (though it may be a week or two before they can get to you…).
http://www.thesharehouse.org/
5706 2nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108
(206) 767-5280
Meanwhile… you can just report it if it’s on public land. Or push it onto the roadside (thus becoming public land), then report it.
http://www.seattle.gov/util/environmentconservation/ourcity/reportillegaldumping/
Work crew comes usually the next day and cleans it up.
And now you’ll know what people on probation do to get their community service hours.
to the other brett, unless your property is on the corner it’s illegal to ‘dump’ something off there.
And as you mentioned, it’s easy enough to post in front of your property and then post it on craigslist. I’ve never had anything last more than 2-3 days and that includes electronics that got wet and a pressed wood desk that got wet as well.
It’s unfortunate that some people choose to do this with the couches, taking our neighborhood down a rung – but – most of the couches that I’ve seen around the area are in bad shape (I imagine that they are renters in transition out of the neighborhood) that I don’t think a place like goodwill would take most of the stained and torn ones I’ve seen.
@John Boy — thanks. I imagine the folks who live along 5th Ave NE know that one well, as the I-5 sound wall seems to be the designated place to dump sofas around here. They seem to last a few days, though.
Thanks all for the additional resources. Sadly – this couch wasn’t too bad before it sat in the rain and was destroyed by rodents and birds. The first day I was hopeful someone would grab it. And you are right that sometimes it takes some days to get a pick up done. But this one has now been close to two weeks. I think the N. transfer station issue plays in as well.
There are just so many ways to get rid of many things now – I don’t know that we have to resort to the curbs for more than a day or so.
I completely agree, Eric. It’s people who are too lazy to go to the SPU website which tells you how to dispose of anything you need to get rid of. I’ve lived in Wallingford for a very long time so I’m used to it but out of town guests have commented on it since they find the practice of putting your junk out on the curb for someone to take very odd. Then I have to explain that the Seattle as portrayed in Frasier, since apparently that’s what they form their preconceived opinions about the city on, is not the real Seattle. There are lots of old hippies and TPT to use a vulgar term. 😀
Hmmm. Not sure we need to justify neighborhood traditions to out-of-towners, but never mind that.
Here’s how I see it: if it’s an item–as in, not junk–in reasonably good condition that someone else may pick up and use, well, yay! Make it available. I like that.
On the other hand, if it’s “we bought a new couch and can’t be troubled to deal with our old one, so we’ll let it get ruined out on the sidewalk and eventually someone (else) will haul it away for us,” well, that’s just selfish, and….well…ugh. Lost opportunity to make a donation to a worthy cause, and help people in need, Fobbing your responsibilities off on someone else when there are alternatives? More than a little bit sad.
SPU’s website (http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Garbage/HouseResidentsGarbage/ExtraorBulkyGarbage/index.htm) under “get bulky items collected” says “Items must be out at the collection point by 7AM the day following the call to schedule the pick-up, and will be collected within 5 business days (Monday through Friday only).” Unless it’s been there longer than five business days, it’s totally possible they’re doing the correct thing and getting it picked up.