I live in the city and come across human feces daily.
I've been thinking a lot about this, and after going through a year long process of trying to get the city (actually the port authority) to simply lock a dumpster at night as they say they do but don't actually.
SF in particular seems to look for fancy big expensive flashy solutions to problems rather than look to other cities who have solved the issue in a simple "KISS" approach.
In the example of the unlocked dumpsters which were and are a serious public health hazard (people and raccoons go though it every night and drag the trash all over the waterfront and immediate area) I kept calling the port just asking them to lock them at night. They said thos was already happening, but clearly wasn't. We went back and forth for months but I got nowhere. The port kept telling me they they got new big Belly Trash Cans and have asked to build a new dumpster enclosure. All that was 2 years ago and the dumpsters still sit open today. All I was asking for was for them to lock the dumpsters they said they were already locking, with the lock that's already on the dumpster. It's not a "build a new building" or buy expensive things problem. It's a simple people doing their job as promised problem.
A non profit that distributed these throughout the city, then picked them up every few days would do far more good than any of these other efforts I've seen proposed by the city. The problem is its not sexy, interesting or newsworthy, it's just work. Working with a startup or design team to yet again invent another solution is, so that's why the people in power do that. Not because its better.
I've been thinking a lot about this, and after going through a year long process of trying to get the city (actually the port authority) to simply lock a dumpster at night as they say they do but don't actually.
SF in particular seems to look for fancy big expensive flashy solutions to problems rather than look to other cities who have solved the issue in a simple "KISS" approach.
In the example of the unlocked dumpsters which were and are a serious public health hazard (people and raccoons go though it every night and drag the trash all over the waterfront and immediate area) I kept calling the port just asking them to lock them at night. They said thos was already happening, but clearly wasn't. We went back and forth for months but I got nowhere. The port kept telling me they they got new big Belly Trash Cans and have asked to build a new dumpster enclosure. All that was 2 years ago and the dumpsters still sit open today. All I was asking for was for them to lock the dumpsters they said they were already locking, with the lock that's already on the dumpster. It's not a "build a new building" or buy expensive things problem. It's a simple people doing their job as promised problem.
Back to this. I've been thinking of starting a non profit that distributes 5 gallon buckets with toilet lids on them (they make them for camping, like this: https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Toilet-Seat-Proof-Waste/dp/B07N...)
A non profit that distributed these throughout the city, then picked them up every few days would do far more good than any of these other efforts I've seen proposed by the city. The problem is its not sexy, interesting or newsworthy, it's just work. Working with a startup or design team to yet again invent another solution is, so that's why the people in power do that. Not because its better.