What to do if something is illegally dumped in your front yard?

Gayle in North Admiral sent us that photo this morning – overnight, some unwanted furniture, with a bonus traffic cone, turned up on her lawn. She says the couch had been spotted elsewhere in the neighborhood recently, so she suspects a prank, but is not amused. Illegal dumping on public property is a crime with its own city hotline, but dumping on private property is not so clearly addressed, so we suggested the time-tested advice of putting a big FREE! sign on it and hoping it attracts the attention of passing scavengers. At last report, Gayle planned to do that, and told us it could be found at 46th/College. Meantime, further searching brought us to a 2-year-old thread in the WSB Forums, in which a call to the aforementioned city hotline DID apparently lead to some help – (206-684-7587). Other advice?

AlkiAnne April 22, 2012 (8:39 pm)

The couch was at 45th and admiral all last week.

Gayle April 22, 2012 (9:05 pm)

Thank you for posting. I will phone the SDOT number and hope for a remedy since the cone and table are gone, but the couch remains. While walking to the grocery store this afternoon, I saw a large beer bottle where I believe the couch was previously and another at the entry to the alley nearby. Strongly suspect that the young man getting into the strange car in front of our house this morning was involved in spite of his claim to be class valedictorian and too smart to park at the scene.

SeaChanty51 April 22, 2012 (9:09 pm)

If you offer it for free, it might be taken. But if you put a sign that says $10, someone will take it for sure!

raincity April 22, 2012 (10:01 pm)

If the furniture was dumped where it was as shown it is in the ROW – or not on private property

thistle stair April 22, 2012 (10:48 pm)

Somebody dumped a black car at the bottom of the thistle street stairs over 2 weeks ago.No permit.I mentioned this to a parking enforcement officer but have seen no action taken. guess I have to call it in.

Carter April 22, 2012 (10:48 pm)

Having put an item out today with a “FREE” sign on it today, I can tell you from experience – it takes 4 minutes until someone scoops it up!

Joseph April 23, 2012 (5:52 am)

At the lower end of Kenyon by the high school peole are always dumping unwanted stuff on the side of the road. If people do not want the stuff there is Good Will, Value Village and other places that will take it. Don’t people think before doing that. I have to say I am getting tired of seeing this on the street.

JoAnne April 23, 2012 (8:36 am)

Someone dumped a refrigerator right in the middle of our ally a few months ago. The city picked it up after about a week, but in the meantime,four of us had our back yards and tool sheds pillaged.

I guess the crooks thought if junk was sitting there it was a good place to commit other crimes.

BCB April 23, 2012 (8:54 am)

Thank you for posting this- someone left a couch in front of our house last night. So irritating. I filled out a form online with Seattle Public Utilities-appartently they will come by and pick it up at some point. I’m hoping someone takes the ugly thing first.

Gina April 23, 2012 (9:22 am)

I recognize that sofa-it was on the corner by Bank of America on Admiral way. The table is a new friend, and the orange cones are wanderers from the Lafayette playground. You never know where they will next appear.

Lost In Space April 23, 2012 (11:00 am)

Art. Or not.

cruzer April 23, 2012 (3:29 pm)

maybe Lolo could use it?

https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/ahhhhhhhhthe-bench-is-goneagain

Almost there... April 23, 2012 (7:37 pm)

Anyone looking for a gray couch? It’s in front of the now-closed Admiral Blockbuster. Been there a while! LOL

WS Mama April 23, 2012 (10:42 pm)

I found a nasty box spring dumped in the alley behind my garage three weeks ago. I called the illegal dumping number that same morning and they still haven’t picked it up. I called again this morning and doubt they’ll be here to get it any time soon. It has become my problem, as it’s on my property.

sun*e April 24, 2012 (8:55 am)

I really can’t believe what people do sometimes…so thoughtless! We’ve had illegal dumping 2 times this past year in our secluded neighborhood. The first time I did a “Rant” in the WSB Forum and a nice reader gave me this link: http://www2.seattle.gov/util/forms/illegalDumping/illegalDumpForm.asp I used it to report both incidents and all was picked up within a couple of days. I hope they do the same for you.

Gayle April 25, 2012 (10:31 am)

A huge thank you to TR and some terrific research. I don’t know whether the online form or my phone call to the hotline, but the couch was picked up this morning by a crew from the city.

JeC April 25, 2012 (11:13 am)

This is a huge epidemic in the Delridge area. It’s like Goodwill, Jr. out here.

B barnecal April 25, 2012 (12:11 pm)

Unreal man, just unreal, perfectly good sofa too. I should be so lucky.

Krissy April 25, 2012 (12:47 pm)

Yes — delridge is getting hit too!
Someone dumped a dead tire (+gross rim) in my driveway. Not happy!

Gini Johnson April 25, 2012 (2:08 pm)

I am a Realtor and our clients recently moved quickly to take new jobs in a new city and left a garage FULL of items. My daughter and I were going to take it all to the dump but decided to put it at the curb for a few hours to see if anyone wanted the items. It took us 4 hours to put it all out there and it ALL was taken within minutes. Several people waved and yelled “thanks”!!!! We were thrilled that we made so many people happy with found treasures and we didn’t have to make several trips to the dump at the end of the day.

Sorry, comment time is over.