This may be coming soon to your town
This is San Francisco's latest answer to preventing metal theft:
(Printed in the San Francisco Chronicle 12-12-2012)
They've stripped copper wire from traffic signals, pilfered bleachers from public parks and even taken to the water to pirate metal scraps from the old Hunters Point Shipyard. But by early next year, these thieves may have far less of an incentive to raid San Francisco's public and private property for metal.
The explosion of metal theft from construction sites, public transit tracks, graveyards, foreclosed homes and utilities has become a national problem as the economy tanked and the value of copper and other metals skyrocketed. Now, San Francisco hopes to crack down on metal thieves, who can make up to $4 a pound by selling their illicit goods to the city's largely unregulated junk dealers.
Legislation passed unanimously Tuesday by the city's Board of Supervisors would create a stricter permitting system that applies both to buyers and sellers, in part by giving the Police Department more power to yank permits from shady players.
"It's a signal to all parties involved that we are paying attention and this has to stop," said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who authored the legislation and whose Bayview-area district is home to San Francisco's four metal dealers. "I believe this legislation will go a long way to making the industry more transparent. It's balanced and long overdue."
Cohen created the legislation after consulting police officers, constituents and representatives of some of those hit often by metal thieves - including BART, Muni and Colma cemeteries. The changes, she said, will bring San Francisco's permitting process more in line with state law and similar local laws governing other industries.
"It's a racket all the way around," Cohen said of the current permit structure, under which sellers are not regulated and junk dealers' permits never expire. "I hope other municipalities will be able to pass similar legislation."
The new rules, which must pass the board one more time in January before heading to Mayor Ed Lee, call for all current permits to expire in June. Junk dealers would have to apply to the Police Department and pay $1,358 annually for a permit; sellers would pay $768 every two years, though licensed contractors would be exempt.
The Police Department would have discretion over who qualifies for a permit and could place conditions on any approval. The department could also suspend or revoke a seller's or buyer's permit if those conditions are violated. Applicants would be required to disclose any previous criminal offenses, though having a conviction would not necessarily disqualify someone from securing a permit.
Junk dealers didn't officially oppose the proposed law, but Daniel Strechay, a spokesman for the international company Sims Metal Management, which operates a yard near the Dogpatch neighborhood, said the company is troubled that it will have to reapply for a permit annually.
"While we appreciate the intent and will comply with San Francisco's proposed new ordinance, we have concerns about the uncertainty the new permit conditions would bring to recycling operations in San Francisco, in particular how the renewal review process would work," he said in a written statement.
Police officials said the annual renewal process is exactly what will give the proposed law teeth. Bayview Station's acting captain, Lt. Robert O'Sullivan, told a board committee last week that the proposal is "much needed."
"It affords the chief of police and department people like myself the ability to suggest conditions on the permits," he said.
The Police Department has conducted several sting operations at the junk dealers, resulting in felony charges against two businesses' employees who allegedly accepted copper wire that was clearly identifiable as belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Two of those cases, against employees of J&S Recycling, are still pending, said district attorney's spokesman Alex Bastian. A third man, Stephen ****son, who works at Sims Metal Management, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was placed on probation, Bastian said.
Link: S.F. supes seek to curb metal theft - SFGate
WTF?
What's wrong with this picture?
In the eyes of the law, the difference between a 'seller' and a 'dealer' is that one doesn't buy and resell their inventory. Everyone that picks up abandoned stuff off the street would be a 'seller' and everyone else would be a 'dealer'.
Sure, this could possibly reduce metal theft because no one could afford the permits and the scrap yards will only be allowed to buy from permitted 'sellers' or other 'dealers'. A couple yards have said that they won't afford to stay in business if this passes, and the net result is the city is going to be left with mountains of scrap abandoned in the streets everywhere.
WTF are these law makers thinking? This is only going to start a larger black market between the 'sellers', 'dealers', and people without permits. The end result is the honest 'little guys' are going to get screwed.
