Just a Landlord

With apologies to the Steve Miller Band for the title …

This past week we received a notice of  a $52.05 “fee” being assessed for “improper care of a discarded electronic device” at one of our properties.  Wow! They revert to five dollar words to say you put a radio in the garbage can.

Upon review it seems  our tenant put a radio/CD player in the green garbage cart.   Either a scavenger or DPW took it out of the cart and left it in the alley.

As I drove around the Southside this weekend I noticed a bunch of small electronics laying next to garbage carts with little orange stickers. So despite the bill saying the property was posted, it appears the only posting were these stickers that mostly face away from the house.  To make it worse the property owner does not get notice by mail until the fee is assessed.

This must be one helluva profit center for the city.

I really wish city officials were there to hear the tenant’s reaction to having this charge passed on to them.

Milwaukee Code:

79-2-13-b. No person may place an electronic device in mixed municipal solid waste or discard or otherwise dispose of an electronic device except by delivery to an electronic device collection or recycling facility.

State law that defines what an electronic device that is prohibited from being placed in the garbage:

1. A peripheral, as defined in s. 287.17 (1) (j).

3. A facsimile machine.

4. A digital video disc player.

5. A digital video player that does not use a disc and that is not a camera, as defined in s. 287.17 (1) (a).

6. A video cassette recorder.

7. A video recorder that does not use a cassette and that is not a camera, as defined in s. 287.17 (1) (a).

8. A covered electronic device, as defined in s. 287.17 (1) (f).

9. A telephone with a video display.

10. Another kind of electronic device identified by the department under s. 287.17 (10) (i).