What to do about Graffiti ?

Do you have graffiti in your neighborhood in Seattle and you are wondering what to do about it? Depends on if it is on private or public property according to an article in the PI. They also ran an article on what can be done about the problem. And the Stranger had an article awhile back about Seattle's Graffiti Rangers.

If you see someone actually tagging call 911 to report it. But it you don't actually catch someone in the act you can still call the police non emergency number to report it, even if it's on private property. That phone number is 206-625-5011 and I'm putting it in my cell phone soon. My New Years resolution is to report more graffiti in my neighborhood, will you join me?

You can also fill out an online form here, or call in a report to the city at (206) 684-7587

reporting illegal dumping

Just a reminder that Seattle Public Utilities does take illegal dumping seriously. People can report problems by calling (206) 684-7587. An online report form and more information is available here.

New Landscaping and Old Trash

There have been very few good things that I could say about the AM/PM convenience store on MLK for the years and years that I have been tracking the trash problems at this store. But I have to admit that they kind of did a good thing recently by cleaning up and landscaping a small section of the land around their store. Now a thin strip of their property has risen to the same level as the other stores in the AM/PM chain and I'm happy to see this small improvement.

However if you look directly across the sidewalk to the parking strip it is still absolutely packed full of garbage. Do they not know that they are responsible for the upkeep of this area? Or do they just not care?

Of course the large pile of cement still sits in their alley and there has been no improvements to 85% of their greenspace. It still sits next to the store as a chained off empty lot full of garbage but I'm happy that they are finally taking some small steps to improvement.

Illegal Dumping

The PI ran an article today about illegal dumping. You can read about it here

Public Drunkenness

Travis Mayfield over at the KOMO news blog had a post about reporting public drunkenness which reminded me to put a link for the Washington State Liquor Control Board on our homepage.

If you discover a business selling alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated, Please report them at 206.439.3703

Beacon Hill Blog

Thanks for the link from the wonderful Beacon Hill Blog

I've gotten a few discouraging emails from residents of Beacon Hill that are dealing with these same issues. Keep fighting the good fight and keep reporting illegal dumping!

Nuisance Properties Update

The nuisance properties ordnance is continuing its way through the system, a full vote is expected by November 30th.

from the article in the PI

"The ordinance would define "chronic nuisance properties" as places where crimes or drug dealing or other nuisance activities occur at least three times within 60 days, or seven times in a year. Offenses such as prostitution, weapon violations, assaults or gang-related activity would be included in the definition.

The police chief would be given authority to declare a property a chronic nuisance. The owner would be notified in writing and given seven days to respond. The property owner would then have 30 days to work with the police on a plan for clearing out the nuisance activity, or face penalties of up to $500 per day for not complying."

Abandon Vehicle

People often wonder what the rules are in Seattle when it comes to abandon vehicles. This is often a problem next to the AM/PM store on MLK as they have created a perfect place for people to dump abandon vehicles and the owners of the store never seem to get around to turning them in. Just in case your looking for information on what to do, here is the city of Seattle's municipal code.

See links on our home page for info on where to report illegal dumping and abandon vehicles.

Problem Properties Ordinance

The city council is considering passing an ordinance to give police further powers in policing 'problem properties' such as AM/PM, I hope it passes and gives police more powers to clean up this property.


a quote from the story "That's huge for Erin Ehlinger, whose brother was killed in 2005 in a motel on Aurora Avenue North. "There's very simple things owners can do to make their place not a magnet for a bunch of criminal activity," she said. "The (existing law) is too fuzzy and didn't specify these kinds of activities."

Record OSHA fine against BP $87M!!

I just read that BP (AM/PM's parent company) received a record fine from OSHA for refinery violations of $87 Million! Is it any wonder that they can not clean up their gas stations? I'm wondering if there is just a uncaring culture within this company that trickles down to the local stations. Is it any wonder that they can't be bothered to pick up trash on their own property?


p.s. what was the second biggest OSHA fine ever given? $21 million, also handed out to BP for safety violations.

Still Trashy, after all this year

If you look closely at my post from October 1st, 2008 you can see where somebody dumped a tv on top of some cement on AM/Pm's property. The reason that people dump things like cement and TV's is that it costs money to take them to the dump. Cement weighs a lot so it is particularly expensive to throw away.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because it has been over a year now that the cement has been sitting behind the AM/PM and nobody from the store has yet bothered to pick it up. What a terrible member of the community this store is. It is hard to imagine that a national chain would continue to allow a store to operate like this.

Alley Maintenance

I just ran across this link from the city of Seattle
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/alleys.htm

The city states 'Property owners are responsible for alleys next to their property. (Alleys are defined as any unopened street areas next to their property.'

I guess I assumed this, but it is nice to get confirmation that this is actually the law. Keep in mind however that most of the dumping that I list on this site is actually on AM/PM's property, not just in the alley behind their property.

Keep in mind also that they own a dumpster, it would only take them a few minutes a week to maintain their property and the public access next to their property, but they still refuse to do this.

Parking Strip Maintenance

I just found the Seattle municipal code pertaining to parking strip maintenance, I'm posting it here because AM/PM is CONSTANTLY in violation of this law by simply not picking up the trash that accumulates around their store.

The Seattle Municipal Code (SMC)
10.52.030 requires the adjacent property
owner or tenant to maintain the vegetation
that impacts the sidewalk and planting strip
area immediately adjacent to their property.

BP Consumer Relations Service Request Acknowledgement

I got another letter from BP, here it is with my response


BP WRITES TO ME! Wed, 01 Jul 2009

> Dear Joel,
>
>
>
> Thank you for taking the time to email us. We are always pleased to hear from our valued customers. We apologize for the problem you have encountered at the ARCO station located in Seattle, WA. Providing quality fuels and customer service is very important to BP. The event you described occurred at an independently owned and operated ARCO station. We have forwarded your concerns to the station owner and have requested they respond directly to you regarding your experience. We have also notified a BP field representative to review your comments. Please allow at least 3-5 business days for a representative to follow-up with you directly.
>
>
>
> Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact BP Arco Consumer Relations at 1-800-333-3991.
>
>
>
> Once again, thank you for your recent email. We hope we have been of service to you.
>
>
>
> Thank you for your business.
>
>
>
>
>
> BP/ARCO">BP/ARCO Consumer Relations | USA
>
> Phone: 800-333-3991
>
> FAX: 630-300-5253

From me...July 3rd, 2009

Dear BP,

Thank you for your reply concerning the mounds of trash piling up at your Arco AM/PM station at 5620 Martin Luther King Way South.

I really don't care who comes over from your company to pick up the trash, but if you don't pick it up soon and start picking it up regularly that I will have no choice to turn you over to the DPD for failing to maintain your property. Your lot is an eyesore and a detriments to the whole neighborhood.

I think it's great that you think this is the responsibility of the 'independently owned and operated ARCO station.' however when I look up the parcel data for this lot it is clearly owned by BP WEST COAST PRODUCTS LLC 6 CENTERPOINTE DR LA PALMA CA 90623. Guess what?!? That means that the maintenance of the property is the responsibility of your company despite your seemingly inept business structure which attempts to put the responsibility on an obviously uncaring franchise owner.

If you continue to operate this way it either means that you are terribly un-knowledgeable or you must think that I am stupid? Either way I hope that your company takes the initiative to PLEASE PICK UP YOUR PROPERTY!

-JOEL

E-Mail Exchange with BP continues

I still have not heard back from BP, the trash still sits on their property so I wrote another email.

Dear BP,

Attached you will find a photo of trash located on your property at 5620 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Seattle WA. This is the same trash that was located on your property that I brought to your attention on June 15th that has still not been picked up (service request 1-246954357) exactly half a month ago. If you look closely at the overgrown weeds you can also see the trash that someone dumped on your property some time last year which has still not been picked up by your company.

I'm just curious if any headway has been made on this issue and if you are going to ever start holding this franchise to the same high standards to which you hold your other stores by picking up the trash that has been lying on your property for months.

thanks,

email saga continues June 15, 2009

Dear BP,

I wrote you this email a few weeks ago and have still not heard back
from you. Attached you will find a photo showing trash at one of your
stores that has not been picked up in months despite my repeated
requests for you to pick up your lot AND if you will look closely you
will notice that there is a whole new pile of trash on top of the old
pile of trash. The reason that there is a new pile of trash on top of
the old pile of trash is that when you leave trash on your property then
people assume that you don't care. It's called the broken windows
theory and you can read more about it here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixing_Broken_Windows

It would be really great if your company started picking up the trash
that is lying all over your property. I really don't have very high
expectations of your company and your property. It would just be nice
if you kept this store to the same standards as the rest of your stores
and just did the simple neighborly thing by picking up your trash.
tr
thanks,

Thanks

Thanks to the Columbia Citizens Wiki for the link. It's good to know that people in the neighborhood keep up with this issue.

E-Mail Exchange with BP

photo of large pile of trash piled behind behind Columbia City AMPM just the other day!

3/12/09 (letter from me to BP)

Dear BP,

I have a problem with an Arco AM/PM gas station in my neighborhood and I only recently discovered that BP is actually the parent company for Arco so I thought that I would bring this matter to your attention directly. My problem is trash, lots and lots of trash being dumped and left on the Arco property in my neighborhood and Arco not taking the time to pick it up. This has become such a problem that I actually keep a blog about it, which you can visit here.

http://ampmsucks.blogspot.com/

I have never gotten anywhere by writing anyone in your company with any of my concerns, and I don't expect this notice to get any results either, but I thought that I should continue to try as I realized I have been tracking the problems at this particular station for almost 4 years now, but you are welcome to read all about that in my blog.

Sincerely yours,

4/08/09

(almost a month later, trash still has not been picked up at the site.)

Dear BP Customer Service,

It has been several weeks since I sent you this email detailing trash problems at your store and I have not heard back from you. I'm just curious if any headway has been made on this issue.

04/09 (A letter from BP!!!)

Thank you for taking the time to send us an email recently. We are always pleased to hear from our valued customers. We have located this station and we apologize for the problem that you encountered at the BP/Arco station in Seattle, WA. However this is an Independently Owned Station and we have forwarded your concerns to Upper Management over the station for proper handling and also requested for a follow up call to you regarding this matter. Please allow 3-5 business days for a follow up call from Upper Management not including weekends. Once again thank you for your recent email, and we hope we have been of service to you. Thank you for your business.

(they never called, trash still on site)

4/30/09 (from me to BP, nearly a month and a half after trash reported)

Thanks for your email on April 9th letting me know that someone from Upper Management will be contacting me in 3-5 business days to discuss this situation. It is now April 30th and I still have not heard from anyone. Are you sure that somebody is going to contact me?
thank you,

5/4/09 (almost 2 months since trash reported)

FROM BP TO ME

We apologize if you have not been contacted. We have notified the BP Field Representative for this station and advised that this is your 3^nd request for a follow-up. They will request that the independent owner follow-up with you directly at their earliest convenience.

We appreciate your patience with this matter and apologize for the delayed response.

(I was never contacted by BP management or an independent owner)

5/27/09

FROM ME to BP(nearly two months since trash reported, some clean up has happened but trash pictured above still on site)

Thank you so much for your email. I just went by the store and I was impressed to see that the noxious weeds and 'lawn' had been mowed. I was amazed to see that most of the trash had actually been picked up except for a large pile of concrete and some barbed wire and some traffic cones it was looking pretty good. I was even more impressed that they threw their trash in the dumpster this time rather than dumping it on the neighboring property.

I'm curious if this was a one time clean up or if your company is going to start holding the franchise owner to the same standards as your other stores?

thank you,

P.S. you misspelled 'Acknowledgement' in the subject line of this email, if that is being auto-generated you might want to make sure and fix that.

June 9, 2009

Some trash still on site several months after being reported to BP they still have not contacted me saying when this will be taken care of or if there is going to be any regular maintenance on this site. BP is trying to spin this as being the responsibility of the franchise owner HOWEVER BP is actually the owner of the property and it is therefor ultimatley their responsibility.

another abandon car

I just reported another stolen vehicle that was dumped on the side of the AMPM Arco station on MLK. This is a HUGE problem in my neighborhood and I'm really bummed that Arco is not taking steps just to report stolen cars being dumped on the side of their property. As a matter of fact they are encouraging this by allowing the weeds to grow so tall that it gives cover to potential car problems. I let it sit for a few weeks this time hoping that I could just get in touch with someone from their company and get them to report it, but their customer service department won't respond to my messages. A sad day for my neighborhood.

BP Customer 'Service'

I contacted BP customer service again exactly one month ago. They wrote back for address confirmation which I happily provided to them (they could have just found it if they read this blog) and after a few weeks they still had not gotten back to me so I sent a follow up email and they wrote me back and said "Thank you for taking the time to send us an email recently. We are always pleased to hear from our valued customers. We have located this station and we apologize for the problem that you encountered at the BP/Arco station in Seattle, WA. However this is an Independently Owned Station and we have forwarded your concerns to Upper Management over the station for proper handling and also requested for a follow up call to you regarding this matter. Please allow 3-5 business days for a follow up call from Upper Management not including weekends." But that was over a week from now...so why do I get the feeling that they are avoiding me?

In the meantime there is another abandon car on their parking strip, I guess I will turn it in eventually. I think that this is about the 15th stolen car that I have turned in parked next to or on their property? It's actually quite sad for my neighborhood.

Watching TV

I just walked by today and this TV is still sitting on their property. I kind of joked that maybe they were waiting for it to biodegrade, but maybe they really are?!? They picked up the tires (or somebody did) but no other real changes. How long has this tv been here now?

BP, one of the most polluting corporations in the world

I emailed BP customer relations again with more photos of the trash around their store, they emailed me back for some clarification but other than that I have not heard back from them. It's funny to me to see some BP commercials where they pretend to be environmental but in reality they can't even pick up the trash around their own store. Nice Greenwashing!

The truth is that Mother Jones named them one of the worst companies in the world in both 2000 and 2005 and is considered by the EPA to be one of the most polluting companies in the country.

Really BP...if you can't even pick up the trash that is on your property right in our neighborhoods, why should we believe that you care about the environment at all?

still life with stacked tires

Although Arco AM/PM gas station is still not picking up their trash. At least someone in the neighborhood has started stacking their trash tires to make it look more artsy. Way to go Arco!

This is an old article, I remember reading it last spring...but it's basically an overview of the improvements being made along MLK as light rail comes into the neighborhood. I only wish that Arco would get the clue and clean up their property. I guess that this is too much to ask.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004361342_mlk20.html

Google adsense comedy

As part of the blogger deal Google puts little advertisements on the right hand side of this blog. I was looking today and noticed that the ad was for Arco! How funny is that? Please feel free to click on it over and over again as it will cost them a quarter every time you click on it.

trash still sits

I can't even remember when I first took a photo of this TV someone had dumped and Arco had decided not to pick up. Maybe they are waiting for it to biodegrade? It's been sitting on their property for a long long time. It's Chinese new year and the neighborhood temple is really hoping, I love all of the life and good will for this Columbia City Neighborhood, it's too bad that Arco does not take better care of their property.

shots fired

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattle911/archives/160306.asp

no surprise, shots fired outside of Arco am/pm the other day.

View Larger Map

Ha! I was looking at Google maps for something else and realized that they took photos of the arco am/pm with trash, so now you can visit the virtual trash at any time.

pissing on Arco

I was leaving my house yesterday when I noticed a young man pissing on the fence that surrounds the Arco AM/PM. When I approached him and asked him to not piss on my neighborhood, he instantly got very defensive. 'whats your problem? why you getting all up in my face? I will piss wherever the hell I feel like!' I tried to explain to him that this was my neighborhood and it would be nice if he didn't piss on it, how would he feel if I came and pissed on his neighborhood? 'this is your f__kin hood?' he pointed to the empty lot full of trash and weeds surrounded by barbed wire that Arco owns 'this aint nothin but a sh_t hole!'

How could I argue with him? the Arco AM/PM lot is a sh_t hole! Why should I expect anyone in seattle not to come over and piss all over it?