School kids hold drives, neighborhoods get together to pick up bottles, and everyone celebrates Earth Day. [...] we've had one lawsuit, a petition drive, angry neighborhood meetings and accusations that anyone who opposes a center "hates the homeless." Alert readers will recall that neighbors say it's noisy, dirty and clogs traffic. All of which brings us to 10th and Harrison, where a different recycling center, Smart Cycle, was attempting to open July 1 to capture the business from when the Safeway site closed. Christopher Hall, who represents SoMa Neighbors, says they've collected more than 650 signatures on a petition to stop the center. The neighbors don't want to say it because they will be branded haters of the homeless, but they don't want a conga line of shopping carts coming in every day and scavengers diving into their recycling bins. Pop-up centersBut she's also trying to support people who, she says, depend on recycling for income. There is an elegant solution, which is a city proposal to have mobile recycling centers pop up in neighborhoods once or twice a month and then move to the next spot. The neighbors are collecting more signatures, Csaszar is appealing to the Planning Department, local officials are pushing the state to amend the law, and the Sheriff's Department is supposed to be serving eviction notices on Market Street.
Reported by SFGate 3 hours ago.
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