One of the things about doing this as a sweep is that you'll be able to bring things to the attention of the code inspector.

@ Jaime... please contact the Riverview Community Association for help or call Councilman Tom Quirk's office at 410-887-0896 for more information. Ron Whitehead is the President of the RCA, they meet every second Thurdsday at 6:30 at the Headstart building.

I think the goal is to clean up the neighborhood, not play gotcha with neighbors. Nobody would be disappointed if everything was tidied up before the 20th and no violations were found.

True enough, Bruce, but again, if annoucing a sweep cleaned things up then why not just say that every day before trash day is sweep day? If that worked then there would never be a problem. What will happen is that people will clean up the code violations for the date of the sweep and then by this time next year the place will be even worse because the offenders do not learn from warnings, they learn from being hit in the pocket book with fines. Sometimes that doesn't even work if they are renters. In that case, the landlords need to be hit with the fines.

Sean... you don't need to be a dummy to attract rats. Most people do not think that trash cans without lids are an invitation to dinner. They also need a water source.. footbaths for pools should be emptied.. rats burrough, so if you have a low lying deck they appreciate the shelter, if you aren't poopy scooping you just gave them a wonderful gift.. its their food of choice. Compost piles and putting food out for the birds is also a contributor. Isn't is weird that rats are disgusting, but squirrels are cute? Squirells are basically rats with fur :)

@Sean, You probably don't know how the Baltimore County Code Enforcement system works. They can't have a sweep every week. This would drain the County coffers and drive many accusations of Nazi tactics. Like Bruce said, the point is to get cooperation, even if just in the nick of time before the fine is applied. An imposed fine on a dirty resident costs the County many more dollars than received dollars from fines. Counter productive, so they try to avoid it. Didn't you read the comments from people complaining about the lack of prior notification of the dumpster day. Do you think they'll take the unannounced sweep day more lovingly? Maybe a better way to handle these hoarders is to have the County perform an initial sweep first issuing warnings to violators, then have the dumpster day two weeks afterwards, then a week later issue stiff fines for reluctant violators. That way when the furious hoarders start screaming from the warnings, announce to them that the neighborhood is having a dumpster day. Now all will be informed, leaving them with no excuses. How does Violetville Association handle these same problems?

I agree with Mike.. I does make more sense if the County came out and gave warnings, then provide dumpsters, then issue fines!!

Chris, with all due respect, squirrels are not rats with fur. While they may be distant cousins, the two rodents are entirely different. Squirrels can only eat certain foods and don't carry as many diseases. Rats, on the other hand, can eat most anything and are virtual disease moving vans.

Also, anyone who lives in an urban area who doesn't think a trash can without a tight fitting lid is an invitation to dinner is a dummy in my book. Same goes with those who don't clean up after their pets. Dummies,one and all.

Mike, Violetville is not a good example. We probably have as many or more violators than Lansdowne does. I know our rats are as big and bad as yours. But, having said that, the VCA did schedule a similar sweep last fall while I was president. I didn't want to announce it but the city suggested I do. So I told the week, but not the night and I didn't tell the exact streets, as I didn't know until the city arrived. And, as you suggest, people were really upset about the code violations they received. And, I have to say, the community is still wrought with code violations. What would I do differently? More in next post.

How would I handle code violation sweeps if I had all-power over all the universe? Instead of wasting police man hours on community walks, which do little to stop crime (although they may be great for community relations), I would provide communites with code enforcers to walk with communities. They communites could focus their montly walks on finding code violations. This might mean some code enforcers would have to have some of their work hours shifted to evening hours. But, I will argue, keeping communities cleaner will go a longer way in reducing crime than COP walks do. I suggested this to Baltimore City Council President "Jack" Young at one of our meetings and he gave me ten reasons why it wouldn't be done and not one good one for why it couldn't be done.

I also suggested that we train the Baltimore City Auxilary Police on code enforcements and offer them to communities for sweeps. That one got a wall of resistance from Young too.

I ALSO DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE DUMPSTERS. NEITHER DID MY NEIGHBORS !!

Jen, if you need help cleaning up your property, let me know and I'll make arrangements to get help for you in advance of the sweep.

Jen/Michael,

We gave plenty of warning. We announced this Hillcrest Park clean-up effort a few months ago in paper flyers, our monthly meeting, and our website and Facebook page. We put flyers out throughout the community of Lansdowne, including businesses, stores, library, etc. The Patch and the Arubutus Times had it in their papers a few times. If you read this paper now then you must have read it then when it was announced. In those flyers we gave warning about a community sweep that would be held in mid-late Jun after the clean-up (we did not have an exact date at the time). Once we got the exact date, we wanted to put it out there to give people more notice, which we did not have to do.

I can see both side of the coin, But if the first is done without announcement you can catch offender and then follow up with the courtesy of announcement to maintain, biggest violators will return to their old habits, Just human nature.

I think the dumpster days are very useful. The ones I've seen in Halethorpe and Relay do a pretty good business. There are many reasons why somebody is unable to lug things to the dump. They can't fit whatever it is in their car, or they are unable to move it alone. People brought things to the dumpster in wheelbarrows, hand trucks and grocery carts. They could roll things down the street, or get help moving things, that they couldn't do otherwise.

Bruce, I get that.... I do.. But on the other hand I kinda don't. I have a 80 year old neighbor who is by himself who manged to get rid of a dryer he had replaced. It's amazing what people will help you with if asked!! Or maybe im just lucky to have a big strong husband who dislikes clutter! ;)

Nakki, I'll never forget the time last fall when I approached a woman sitting on her porch and told her that she has rats in her backyard and it because she has open trash containers. She said to me, and I quote: "I am looking at a big rat right now". I just walked away shaking my head and I filed a code violation inspection with the city. (I am sure the city cleared the case without even coming out, which I have argued in past blogs that they do.) People will fight to the death for their right to stay ignorant.

Chris, you are doing a wonderful job over there!!! I would like to say I live in Arbutus and I knew about the clean up over there!! People want to be informed GO TO YOUR COMMUNITY MEETINGS! Can't stress that enough! I don't think there is a community in the Southwest Balt County area that doesn't have one!! ;)

Chris, I don't begrudge your efforts. I think an active community association is essential in combating community problems. I just quetion how effective the actions are and do they represent wasted energy. I have questioned the effectiveness of COP walks (see above). I also question the effectiveness of community clean up days. They are great public relations but I have my doubts on how far they go in correcting the problems.

I agree. They should have more evening hours.

Chris, you should never kid about such important things as rats and squirrels...now I am just kidding! :)

Good work. Keep it up. Southwest Baltimore County needs more folks like you. Thanks.

theres a wonderful attitude to have. how about you take the lid OFF yourself before you put the trash out the night before then after the trash goes that day you put the lid back ON.

Mr. James Brown,

I also had that happen to me. I called the county legislative aide to Councilman Quirk and got the number for the waste trash haulers and called them. I also spoke to them (driver) personally when they came by in the truck and explained the situation to him. He said they would try to do a better job of not throwing the cans and lids around. He was very pleasant!!

James,
I saw a guy that ties the lid to trash can with a 6 ft. rope to keep the lid nearby. I don't know how the trash collectors feel about this, but it looked like a good idea to me.