Photo by Aaron Lau on Unsplash

San Francisco inhabitant’s no. 1 complaint about the excessive amounts of no. 2 in the street is finally being provided with a potential solution.

San Francisco is launching a Poop Patrol to clean up the streets.

Despite the name, the city takes its public piles of poop seriously; they have to: people called 311 to report feces 14,597 times between January 1 and Monday August 13, coming out to around 65 complaints a day.

Starting in about a month, a team of five Public Works staffers and a supervisor will begin patrolling the alleys around Polk Street and other “high volume” spots in a vehicle equipped with a steam cleaner.

The greater problem here is the issue of homelessness. Even though there are 22 Pit Stop toilets around the city, many of them are open only until the late afternoon or evening, so there are few options for homeless people to relieve themselves overnight. As a result, Mayor Breed alloted $1.05 million of the city’s budget to construct five Pit Stop public toilets and expand operating hours at five existing locations.

It should be noted, however, that, according to Mayor Breed and Public Works Director Muhammed Nuru, a lot of the waste on the sidewalks comes from dogs, so owners are asked to do a far better job picking up after their pets (in accordance with city law).

Depending on the success of the Poop Patrol, the city may expand its effort to clean the streets of San Francisco.

This is another step to keeping our streets clean and providing additional help to areas in need of attention.https://t.co/vWOJU2OZJa

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) August 14, 2018