From the ‘in case you wondered too’ file: What if you find a needle in a park?

Besides what we publish here on WSB, we also receive and answer questions via various contact channels that don’t always lead to stories – but we resolved recently to share more of the resulting info in case it could help someone else.

That brings us to the question e-mailed by Doug this morning. He found a discarded needle in North Delridge’s Greg Davis Park and wondered what to do about it. We found this page on the city website. Doug’s followup note to us: “The police non-emergency dispatcher sent me to SDOT, which is only open M-F. After contacting the number at your link, I got a call back within 5 minutes. And the guy who called back said he’d just been doing maintenance at Greg Davis, so I had an opportunity to thank him for his beautiful work too.”

4 Replies to "From the 'in case you wondered too' file: What if you find a needle in a park?"

  • Eddie January 24, 2016 (11:00 am)

    Not to be snarky but what was the answer? Call SDOT Monday thru friday?

    • WSB January 24, 2016 (11:17 am)

      Multiple numbers for multiple times – it’s in the page linked in the story. Parks has an after-hours pager.

  • Paula February 5, 2016 (10:42 am)

    I followed all the links. I wanted to find out how to deal with found sharps myself – (because all the other who to call and at what time and whether or not it was on public or private property and blah blah blah) – 

  • Paula February 5, 2016 (10:51 am)

    I gave up on my last message. Lost the cursor and couldn’t get it back. Apparently, you have to be. Technical Writer to use this message board – oh wait – I am a TW! To continue my original message: How do I safely pick up and transport a sharp to am appropriate disposal location? And “no” I’m not going to go downtown with it and I’m not going to deal with all the hoops you expect citizens to go through just to report and dispose of found sharps. Here’s an idea! Tell us to take them to the nearest pharmacy. They all have sharps disposal bins. 

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