San Francisco leaders continue to search for solutions to the issue of poop in city streets, and one supervisor proposed a new plan for cleaning up what dogs are leaving behind.
Supervisor Matt Haney says more of dog waste stations are needed, at least 100 of them, with bags and a place to drop it, in the Tenderloin district.
Dog owners agreed, but there are neighbors who question whether people who haven't cleaned up after their dog in the past would bother to use the stations going forward.
Mike Nadile walks Ellis Street with his dog buddy, and they dodge the smelly problem daily.
"It's gotten worse -- human as well as babies," Nadle said.
Haney is equally concerned.
"We clearly have a dog poop issue in our downtown neighborhoods, Tenderloin, South of Market, where people who visit here step in something and have it smeared along the sidewalk," he said.
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Haney said people need to be responsible for their pups' poop. But it doesn’t help when there are few places to get baggies or places to toss them. He thinks making it easier to clean might help.
"We’re going to put out 100 dog waste stations, which is the little baggies where you can pick it up, the trash cans, perfect to pick up our dog poop," Haney said.
The Lower Polk Community Benefit District runs more than a dozen of the stations. Officials there say it’s working. Karin Parks likes them.
"Not only are they handy for dogs," Parks said, "if you have to pick something else up, it's handy."
The Public Works Department says it prioritizes all poop cleaning, already offering free dog waste bags and receptacles at pit stop public toilets. They’re giving out dog waste bags at shops, and the city has plenty of garbage cans now.
Still, one woman doubts people will change.
"They have to enforce it," she said. "It is illegal now; its littering. I'm open to some enforcement around that."
