Memphis may issue fines for leaving garbage carts at curbs, among other code violations

Memphis Public Works could soon launch a citywide campaign against blight, targeting common violations like citizens leaving their empty garbage carts at the curb overnight.

Public Works Director Robert Knecht plans to create an 18-member environmental enforcement team this fall, with special officers split into three squads issuing $50 fines for various litter, environmental and commercial property misdemeanor violations.

"Everybody wants a clean city, right? They really want one," Knecht said. "This is one of the best mechanisms to at least start addressing the violation of our rules that we have in place."

Here are some of the common violations the team will target:

Garbage carts left at the curb outside of the required time frame of 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the regularly scheduled collection day

Improper materials placed in recycling carts

Illegal dumping

Illegal "set outs," like when someone is evicted and their belongings, without being bagged or contained, are dumped at the curb or left there for more than 72 hours

The hauling of used tires without a permit

Littering by motorists

Commercial vehicles not properly covering loads

Failure to prevent stormwater pollution or illegal discharges

However, the idea of stricter enforcement of code violations didn't go over well with some citizens, including John Guess of East Memphis, whose garbage was left at the curb by city contractor Inland Waste for three weeks while Inland struggled to catch up on its collection schedule. The city is currently assessing fines for Inland.

"This is short-sighted and out of order," Guess tweeted Wednesday. "Fix the first problem then move to the next!"

Back in the 1940s and '50s, Memphis regularly won awards for being one of the cleanest cities in the state and in the nation, according to Memphis City Beautiful, the first beautification commission in the country. But time passed and the awards became sparser. Since the so-called Great Recession, blight has proliferated, thanks largely to the influx of out-of-town real estate investors buying up houses for rental properties.

In recent years, the city has launched an all-out assault against blighted properties, knocking down buildings and suing absentee landlords. Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell has also created a Fight Blight Team of 100 youth who are paid to pick up roadside litter and do neighborhood beautification projects.

A push against more mundane forms of blight is a logical next step.

"I think it's a very needed element of enforcement we're lacking," Knecht said.

Janet Boscarino, executive director of Clean Memphis, a nonprofit aiming at fostering a grassroots effort to clean up the city, said the city has struggled with blight in recent decades because of its sprawling development, the proliferation of plastic bags and other disposable materials and an attitude of "it's someone else's problem."

"It's an enormous problem, with thousands and thousands of blighted properties," she said of local blight.

It's refreshing to see the city using a data-driven, collaborative approach to trying to turn around the problem, she added.

Not only will the team take a more targeted approach to blight, but it will also free up Memphis police officers, who deal with about 20 littering incidents per year. The city, led by Mayor Jim Strickland, is ramping up police recruitment and retention efforts to reverse a shortage of officers that may be partly responsible for some crime increases.

"We're not taking over police's responsibility, but this is like a supplement to that, where we can help assist in this area where it's happening," Knecht said. "People know it's happening. I think the police need to focus their resources on these other areas."

The program will cost an estimated $2.1 million in its first year: $1.4 million for personnel, $215,000 for operations and maintenance, and $473,000 to buy 20 vehicles. Fines and fees will cover about 40 percent of the total cost of the team, while the city's solid waste and stormwater funds will cover the remaining 60 percent, Knecht said.

The City Council's budget committee voted May 10 to recommend approval of Public Works' proposed budget, as well as the budgets of its special funds, which include the cost of the new program.

A city ordinance gives Knecht the authority to appoint special officers to issue citations in lieu of arrest, although he's the first director to use the ordinance this extensively.

Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.