In my neighbourhood, a large proportion of the mess is generated by people scavenging through trash cans and scattering whatever's found therein onto the sidewalk/street/etc. Is the author advocating further penalizing the homeless? Taxing the homeless? Educating the homeless on proper sanitation techniques?

The proposed solution is far from perfect, but there's an element of pragmatism to it. The targeted establishments are national chains (KFC, McD's, etc) and depending on the size of the business (lest there be fear of overburdening small franchisees), the fees, IIRC, are as low as $.69/day. *IF* the funds are applied directly to supplementing cleaning crews around the city, then the money will be well-spent.

For the business' part, biodegradable wrappers and utensils (go cornstarch!) are a responsible alternative to the paper and plastics they're currently using.

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I hate litter, but am not convinced that a targeted tax on business is a good approach. A city-wide or county-wide tax that would fund anti-litter squads (which includes enforcement) would be a fairer approach. A new tax on adults might encourage them to educate their children on the evils of littering, whereas a tax of a few cents on a slop-burger and cup of high fructose corn syrup won't have much impact on a 16 year old's behavior.

I asked this before, but will try again: does anyone know of studies on the psychology and sociology of littering?

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Perhaps Mike would like to be taxed or fined every time a homeless individual rumagges through his trash and litters the remains. I know that most people would find that to be terribly unfair and would start being very resentful towards the homeless, being as sympathy stops once the downtrodden downtrod on you.

This reminds me of a "field trip" that New York state legislators once took to Kodak and GE facilities in Upsate. For years they had been attacking those companies as polluters and trying to impose excessibly onerous penalties on them. After the field trip, the most ridiculous, yet sadly not surprising, statement was one that essentially said "Geez! We didn't know that these companies hired so many people".

It is my experience that big city councils are the worst legislative bodies in the country based on their ignorance of business practices and just plain common sense. They might even be worse than NY State legislators.

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I wonder if jmchez might propose a solution to the problem of excessive litter on the streets of Oakland. I acknowleged in my initial comment that the approach listed in the article is certainly not ideal, but does contain an element of pragmatism: alleviating, in part, the symptom, if not addressing the root of the problem.

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