Private Property =/= Public

[aurelemsrealm]

At the local dump in the county where I live, they have a section where you can put things that are "too good to be garbage". Stuff like old dressers, pictures, bed frames, etc., etc. You just have to haul it yourself and leave it there. There are scavengers there all day long. But at least they're not encroaching on other people's private property.

That's an interesting idea, but I could see people abusing it because some people just don't care. My community has a freecycle group, and I'm a member of it. I've given some things away, and picked up a few useful items through the program. The group has a Yahoo board for posting and communication, and e-mails members regular digests. So, that's usually where I start when I decide to get rid of my "too good to be garbage" items. If I have no takers on offers I post after a few days, then it goes to the Salvation Army since they have several thrift stores in the area. I've thought about doing an occasional yard sale, but don't usually have time to babysit it.

[HYHYBT]

Things, like my old lawn mower, for example. Why you'd want a 30-year-old Toro with a cracked engine block...I'll never know!

Scrap value... or it has parts they need to fix theirs... or they don't know the block is cracked until *after* they take it home and try to use it.

One thing I don't quite get (or AT ALL, really): if the people picking these things up are making a mess, or blocking residents in or out, or putting themselves or anyone else in danger (climbing into a compactor, for instance) that's different. But other than that, what rational reason is there to object to someone recovering discarded items they think they have a use for? (And don't say "but it's trespassing" either, particularly when you're talking about a communal dumping area for an apartment complex and therefore you have no reasonable expectation of knowing everybody who uses it and it's not YOUR property they're trespassing on anyway.)

[bara]

Im not in a gated community, in fact I live in a poorer area, not a bad area, just poor.

So I purposely put old stuff out by the street (a PUBLIC road) in the hope that someone could use it. No matter what it is, it always gets taken before the end of the day. But its different than a gated community. Its not like anyone is going through my garbage.

In fact had some neighbors take an old desk chair a few weeks back. They needed it and I had a new one so it worked.

[blas87]

Haha, I'm not allowed to call it private property, on the off side chance it might be someone who lives there?


Hahahahahaha.

Ok.

I lived there almost 5 years and smoked outside quite heavily. I knew who the damn can rats and other "treasure hunters" were. I didn't know obviously who the random people coming nearby at the end of May looking for trash furniture were, or the random people who tried to get into the pool.....but I knew one thing for sure about them all: They didn't live here. Not invited here? No right to be here. PRIVATE PROPERTY. That is what it is.

[HYHYBT]

...none of which answers the question of why you even care, much less find it any of your business.

[blas87]

You have no business being somewhere you don't live or aren't invited.

It's plenty of MY business if you're a random stranger who doesn't live here showing up hoping to find stuff to take home. Invite a friend, oo boy, now two people show up every May. Then some more people find out, oh, you can just take all the recyclables from this place, just show up every week and go through their stuff.

I sincerely hope people like you do not try that anywhere that's a secure entry community or one with actual security for the tenants. But, since I'm not allowed to call it "private property", you go ahead and try, let me know how it turns out for ya, just for some junk and treasure that's none of my business that you go on someone else's property to take.

[Andara Bledin]

...none of which answers the question of why you even care, much less find it any of your business.

Oh, there are a plethora of reasons why you would care about trespassers loitering around on private property.

Not the least of which is it's a security concern. Then there's the mess. And the noise. And more safety on top of the security questions.

Hell, I know that the agency that ran the apartment complex I used to live in loved it when I gave them the plates for trucks that were dumping or picking through our dumpsters. The first because it costs them money to have it picked up, and they have to deal with the fallout from actual residents being unable to throw out their own trash because some cheap asshole filled up the dumpster (they were particularly unamused when it was the business that backed up onto a shared alley). And the second because it's a liability issue as well as it opens up other hazards, plus, it would cost them money to pay people to clean up after the assholes digging through the bins and they had to pay for the security company to roll every time someone called in a noise complaint at 4am because somebody was dumpster diving outside their window.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

I'm of the mind that once something is thrown away or put by a dumpster it's fair game. They don't own it anymore. As for private property in an apartment complex that's debatable. I had a cop ticket me because my youngest daughter was riding her bike without a helmet, and he he said it was on public property, so that's why the ticket. if it was private property the ticket wouldn't have been valid.

i'm of that mentality too. and ... because it's already been used in court cases that the police don't need warrants to search your trash.

so if the cops don't need a warrant to search your trash cos it's already been put out, why is it different from someone else rummaging through it?


granted the thought of dumpster diving makes me wanna puke but... is it illegal really?

[linguist]

i'm of that mentality too. and ... because it's already been used in court cases that the police don't need warrants to search your trash.

so if the cops don't need a warrant to search your trash cos it's already been put out, why is it different from someone else rummaging through it?

they don't need a warrant to search trash that's put out on the street for collection. street=public property. if your garbage is still on your property (along the side of the house, on the porch, etc.) they can't search it, unless it's open to view and what they are looking for happens to be right on top.

granted the thought of dumpster diving makes me wanna puke but... is it illegal really?

yes. it's trespassing twice over, really, as not only are they on private property to get to the dumpster, but the dumpster itself is private property, owned by the collection company.

[HYHYBT]

Oh, there are a plethora of reasons why you would care about trespassers loitering around on private property.

Not the least of which is it's a security concern. Then there's the mess. And the noise. And more safety on top of the security questions.

I already said I was talking only of the actual taking of trash itself, and that it was different if they were doing it in a disruptive manner.

It's not trespassing unless the *property owner* objects. You don't rent the parking lot.

[Andara Bledin]

It's not trespassing unless the *property owner* objects. You don't rent the parking lot.

Actually, in a lot of cases, the rent does include a portion of the lot.

And that's still irrelevant, since any trash still on private property (even if it is public access), isn't open to being picked through. The laws regarding such are very specific about only trash that has been put out on the curb or that has been left in some other publicly owned property.

^-.-^

[Racket_Man]

one thing that has NOT been mentiioned yet is this esp when it concerns people dumping stuff in say business or apt building dumpsters.

(and yes this actually happened many years ago to friends of ours)

WHAT IF these people taht are dumping stuff are dumping hazardious material or chemicals. or dumping illegal stuff??? or someone is dumping a meth lab????

if these materials are FOUND by the city, law enforcement, or the waste removal company, the actual owner of the property can and will be FINED heavily and/or criminally prosecuted.

a friend of ours had someone put some hazardous and highly ILLEGAL chemicals in their trash at the curb. The cops were called by the city waste removal people. the house owners were threatened with fines and jail time until they could prove the chemicals were NOT theirs.

[HYHYBT]

And that's still irrelevant, since any trash still on private property (even if it is public access), isn't open to being picked through. The laws regarding such are very specific about only trash that has been put out on the curb or that has been left in some other publicly owned property.

That's still the owner's complaint to make, not yours. And, even aside from that, it doesn't really explain why you would object to someone who is not threatening anybody, dumping, blocking traffic, making noise, or any other side complaint that actually affects anyone (which "trespassing" does not) you care to come up with making use of stuff nobody else wants.

[linguist]

That's still the owner's complaint to make, not yours. And, even aside from that, it doesn't really explain why you would object to someone who is not threatening anybody, dumping, blocking traffic, making noise, or any other side complaint that actually affects anyone (which "trespassing" does not) you care to come up with making use of stuff nobody else wants.

trespassing absolutely affects everyone on the premises. if someone doesn't live there, has no business there, or hasn't been invited, nobody knows what there intentions are. several years ago i lived in an apartment complex where we had a rash of burglaries. after awhile, one of my neighbors made the connection between the burglaries and a group of dumpster divers who had been tolerated for months because they were quiet, non threatening, not blocking traffic, always cleaned their mess up, etc. he noticed that there was new burglaries always seemed to occur within a few days of them showing up dumpster diving--which they did about every two to three weeks). on their next visit he videotaped them and turned it over to the police. they were caught and admitted that they used their dumpster diving activities to case the complex, seeing which cars belonged to which apartments so they'd know who wasn't home when they came back.

also, if a dumpster diver is injured while trespassing, the owner could be held liable, which in turn could result in higher rent for the residents.

[HYHYBT]

Thank you. That makes sense.

(It also makes me wish people would, or even were allowed to, put reusable items in a place where anyone who wanted them *could* take them. Way too much stuff is wasted.)