[HN Gopher] The 'Atlanta Magnet Man' is saving our car tires, on...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The 'Atlanta Magnet Man' is saving our car tires, one bike ride at
       a time
        
       Author : neocritter
       Score  : 263 points
       Date   : 2024-03-01 13:01 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.wabe.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.wabe.org)
        
       | alanbernstein wrote:
       | This makes me want to get a battery powered shop vac, so I can
       | carry it on my bike and spot-clean gravel and glass messes...
        
         | itronitron wrote:
         | I imagine you could pull a child carrier behind your bike and
         | your passenger could maneuver the vacuum nozzle while trailing
         | behind you.
         | 
         | Related >> https://bikeportland.org/2022/01/07/a-california-
         | inventor-is...
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | When my kids were younger I used to bring things to clean up /
         | fix local playgrounds that I was at every day. Later I saw
         | another parent doing the same.
         | 
         | As much as I or someone might feel I "shouldn't" have to, it's
         | pretty efficient to just have someone do the job right then and
         | there.
        
           | micromacrofoot wrote:
           | If everyone pitched in just a tiny bit, picking up a single
           | piece of "someone else's" trash... we'd live in a
           | significantly nicer world. There's a very stubborn "I didn't
           | do it, not my problem" mindset in the US specifically.
        
             | duxup wrote:
             | Yeah the "someone else should do it" kinda thing is a weird
             | self re-enforcing kinda thing too. Seems to just stoke
             | anger and inaction.
             | 
             | Like I show up at a playground at say 8 am, maybe the trash
             | left there was from 8 hours ago ... now someone gets upset
             | that the city didn't do a thing that is probably a
             | rebellious expectation (can't patrol all the parks
             | overnight every 8 hours) and they shove their hands in
             | their pockets and pout.
             | 
             | I'd rather folks just pick some stuff up and toss it in the
             | bin nearby and we're all good.
        
               | easyas124 wrote:
               | I'd rather the litterbugs just not litter in the first
               | place. (Sure, accidents happen, but I've seen ten times
               | more outright antisocial trash dumping than forgetting a
               | candy wrapper by mistake.) People get upset because it is
               | entirely possible to live in a world where you don't have
               | to clean up after people who don't take responsibility
               | for themselves, and I think a lot of people are tired of
               | it.
        
               | duxup wrote:
               | I've never really found "those people shouldn't do that"
               | does much to change things or make the world a better
               | place.
        
               | kgermino wrote:
               | There's loads of littering by me but I don't think people
               | realize how much of the trash blowing around isn't left
               | out by individuals (intentionally or accidentally) but an
               | artifact of our trash collection process.
               | 
               | A lot of the litter by me either falls out of the
               | bin/truck during collection, is dug out of trash cans by
               | squirrels, or spills out when the wind opens the can lid
               | or even blows it over completely. There's things we can
               | do to mitigate that but it'll never be perfect so you'll
               | always see "someone else's trash" blowing in the wind.
        
               | duxup wrote:
               | My trash pickup day is Wednesday, and it is always the
               | windiest day.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | There's the whole other aspect of people who don't care
               | to properly bag trash (which attracts more vermin that
               | also spread litter). It's a very frustrating situation.
        
               | kgermino wrote:
               | Oh I hate that! It's far from a perfect solution - bags
               | tear, you can't bag recyclables, sidewalk and park trash
               | cans will always have loose trash - but it's huge and too
               | many people don't know or care to do it.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | What tends to irritate me, is that sometimes people will
               | make a reddit post where they took a photo of trash to
               | post "what's wrong with people"... and they just walked
               | away from it.
               | 
               | If you can stop for a moment to take a picture, you could
               | pick a piece of it up too... but there's also the "ah I
               | don't have time to do it all so I won't do anything"
        
               | drivers99 wrote:
               | There was a video advocating for picking up other
               | people's litter (that I can't seem to find) I really
               | liked that said (paraphrased) "in order for a piece of
               | litter to exist, it takes 1 person to litter and 1000
               | people to not pick it up. And in order for it not to
               | exist, it takes just 1 person to pick it up."
        
               | dpkirchner wrote:
               | Sometimes "someone else should do it" can be translated
               | to "someone that is being paid to do it should do it." I
               | don't want to affect someone's livelihood, however it's a
               | different story if they're ignoring the task.
        
             | dotnet00 wrote:
             | The "I didn't do it, not my problem" mindset arises because
             | of people with a "I did do it, but it still isn't my
             | problem" mindset. The person who cares enough to clean up a
             | mess in a local park is eventually going to give up when
             | they notice that it's always the same people leaving the
             | mess in the first place and that cleaning up for them is
             | only emboldening them further.
             | 
             | Ideally what would happen is that people would be self-
             | conscious enough to figure out after one or two slip ups
             | that someone else is having to clean up for them, and feel
             | bad enough to avoid doing it in the future.
             | 
             | This has become one of my bigger hard learned lessons. I
             | used to go out of my way to be as considerate as possible
             | to everyone I interacted with, trying to predict issues and
             | mentioning them early to make things easier for others even
             | if it might inconvenience myself. The idea was that people
             | would reciprocate enough that it'd make things easier for
             | myself too.
             | 
             | But over the years I've had to stop accepting that, because
             | as it turns out, most people really don't care. Being
             | extremely accommodating and planning ahead to fit someone's
             | constraints won't mean that I get the courtesy returned.
             | They'll just continue to push me around at their own
             | convenience.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | > after one or two slip ups that someone else is having
               | to clean up for them, and feel bad enough to avoid doing
               | it in the future.
               | 
               | I've lived long enough to know that this won't happen in
               | my lifetime, it requires an entirely different societal
               | mindset... something closer to shame/collectivism a
               | country like Japan has (they still have litterers of
               | course, but a much smaller number)
               | 
               | Chronic litterbugs don't care, they're often low enough
               | on the hierarchy of needs that this kind of morality
               | isn't on their radar at all.
               | 
               | If everyone pitched in, you might pick up a single piece
               | of trash occasionally... so you'd avoid the "I just
               | cleaned up this whole park yesterday" problem, because in
               | theory you'd have a larger number or people doing a
               | little work rather than a smaller number doing most of
               | it.
               | 
               | I regularly pick up trash in my neighborhood, so I get it
               | though... it's impossible for one person to keep up with.
        
               | dotnet00 wrote:
               | Yep, although there's also just an issue of people not
               | seeing their surroundings as something they own. I've
               | seen this in collectivist societies too.
               | 
               | For example, in India, there's a pretty jarring contrast
               | in big cities, between pristine modern buildings with
               | immaculate interiors situated on a street literred with
               | garbage. While Indian society loves to label littering as
               | shameful, because no one sees the street as something
               | they also partly own, their idea of cleaning only extends
               | to keeping their own building immaculate.
        
               | ryandrake wrote:
               | > Chronic litterbugs don't care, they're often low enough
               | on the hierarchy of needs that this kind of morality
               | isn't on their radar at all.
               | 
               | Don't forget the deliberate litterbugs. There are plenty
               | of people out there with a "for every bottle you pick up,
               | I'll litter three" attitude. Belligerence against
               | anything seen as a public good is on the rise. I know
               | someone who believes having a clean, trash-free
               | neighborhood is a "liberal" thing. Blows my mind.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | I've seen "this graffiti makes rent cheaper" too, good
               | point
        
               | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
               | Assholes abound. Don't let them control your life, is my
               | philosophy.
        
               | HEmanZ wrote:
               | I see you've met some of my relatives.
        
               | creato wrote:
               | > Chronic litterbugs don't care, they're often low enough
               | on the hierarchy of needs that this kind of morality
               | isn't on their radar at all.
               | 
               | I used to think trash around my neighborhood was from
               | just a general mass of people not caring about littering.
               | It sounds like that's what you think too.
               | 
               | Then, one day, I saw a homeless guy dumping every single
               | trash can on the street out completely, tearing open the
               | bags, looking for maybe 2 seconds, and then moving on to
               | the next trash can.
               | 
               | Call me harsh, but that behavior should merit a serious
               | prison sentence. I think people overestimate the damage
               | something like this causes to the environment, but
               | underestimate the damage it does to society and the way
               | people think about each other.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | This is the kind of societal harm that _does_ warrant
               | (apparently) harsh punishment, because _if_ it gets out
               | of control there is just no way to resolve it.
               | 
               | It doesn't have to be prison-prison; but something like
               | that does call for maybe a Nordic-style prison that
               | isolates society from the low-level but consistent harm.
               | 
               | It's all very tragedy of the commons.
        
               | wolverine876 wrote:
               | > The person who cares enough to clean up a mess in a
               | local park is eventually going to give up
               | 
               | Maybe some, but certainly not all!
               | 
               | > The idea was that people would reciprocate enough that
               | it'd make things easier for myself too.
               | 
               | Here is the flaw in your plan; it was a flaw in my plan
               | too. In more naive days, I thought that too. Then at some
               | point we realize what you did: people don't do good
               | things, and you aren't going to change most of them.
               | 
               | That's when we can take a big step forward, and learn
               | what true altruism, generosity, and most of all, what
               | love is: It's caring for and doing good for people who
               | don't 'deserve' it; who act like jerks and idiots, who
               | even do bad things. Anyone who has done good in their
               | life learns this lesson. That is love, the only love in
               | any meaningful sense.
               | 
               | That truth is well known, but not always widely
               | discussed. Look at the Gospels in Christianity, and
               | everything that says we are all sinners. Look at stories
               | of prophets in every culture: ignored, attacked, lynched.
               | More contemporaneously, do you think people who do great
               | good, like Washington or Gandhi or MLK, did not realize
               | what you did about human nature? All those people, those
               | religions, those philosophers - they all know. When
               | Jefferson wrote 'All men are created equal, and are
               | endowed with inalienable rights', he knew who he was
               | writing about. When the framers of the Constitution wrote
               | about forming 'a more perfect union', they knew that
               | would be done would be 'of the people, by the people, and
               | for the people' (as Lincoln said later) - and they knew
               | about people.
               | 
               | And it's about you too. You're a sinner, and an asshole,
               | and ignorant too, just like me. If that's not love, if
               | love excludes those people, who loves you and me?
               | Remember that ancient prayer: 'Forgive us our trespasses
               | ...'.
        
               | dotnet00 wrote:
               | I appreciate your intent, but as much as I might try, I
               | don't have endless energy or patience.
               | 
               | Last year I was forced to drag my belongings between 3
               | apartments, each time with zero forewarning, in the
               | summer heat, to rooms with no AC (despite my initial room
               | having been AC, and my still having to pay the higher
               | rent for it), while I had to prepare for my first ever
               | research conference and later was recovering from the
               | worst flu I've ever had, they even dragged me to a
               | roommate conduct meeting which had nothing to do with me,
               | right in the middle of moving. The person the meeting was
               | actually about didn't even attend.
               | 
               | Each time, I had to go to the dorm office and talk to the
               | head administrator in person to get any useful
               | information on what was going on, and was only offered to
               | be compensated after the third time when I came in to the
               | administrator's office, looking half dead from the flu.
               | 
               | I refuse to 'love' people who would put complete
               | strangers through all that suffering without seeming to
               | put in even the smallest effort to empathize and try to
               | make things easier (eg by explaining the things in the
               | email, which they told me in person). I'm not a prophet
               | or saint, nor do I aspire to be one. The only people
               | entitled to my completely unconditional love, generosity,
               | tolerance etc are my immediate family, and friends to a
               | slightly lesser extent. With most other people I'm happy
               | to be polite and help them in small ways by default, but
               | going out of my way to be helpful stops as soon as it
               | becomes obvious that they don't even think about
               | reciprocating in even the smallest of ways. It simply
               | isn't worth the stress I put myself through, and besides
               | not being fair to me, it isn't fair to everyone who does
               | try to reciprocate.
               | 
               | I've had many other similar experiences of my kindness
               | being shamelessly exploited by people who haven't earned
               | it, to the point that they became a bonding moment with
               | my father as he too has had lots of experience with that
               | and had come to a similar approach to treating human
               | interaction. He often got accused of being insincere
               | because of how much effort he put into keeping things
               | smooth for people who reciprocated compared to those who
               | didn't.
        
               | wolverine876 wrote:
               | Hey - none of us have endless energy or patience. We just
               | do our best.
               | 
               | I don't mean to be dismissive about your experience; we
               | all have a hard road, and some much harder than others.
               | Still, if we're talking about it honestly: Why should the
               | admnistrator and other people have compassion for you if
               | you don't have it for others? I'll bet that, not being
               | saint and under all that stress, you weren't perfect in
               | what you were doing. I'll bet the administrator and
               | others were also under many different stressors like you
               | were; who was understanding them?
               | 
               | The only way there is compassion in the world is when
               | it's between stressed people acting less than their best,
               | often much less. If it's restricted to near-perfection,
               | it wouldn't exist; the word 'compassion' wouldn't have
               | any usage or meaning.
               | 
               | But that doesn't mean I do it well all the time. And I'm
               | a jerk too and I hope people have compassion for me.
        
           | neocritter wrote:
           | It's hard to strike a balance between taking responsibility
           | when no one else will and not being a doormat, but it's one
           | worth finding.
        
             | Empact wrote:
             | As someone who likes to pick up incidental litter along my
             | way, my practices on this front are:
             | 
             | * I make a point of not picking up everything I see, rather
             | just do an incremental bit at each opportunity
             | 
             | * I set a basic standard for when I should: if I literally
             | see litter and a trashcan along the path I'm traveling -
             | the goal being to minimize the cost / maximize the value of
             | the effort.
             | 
             | Even with such minimal practices I probably pick up more
             | litter than 90+% of people. :P
        
             | wil421 wrote:
             | When I kayak I pick up bottles and cans when I see them.
             | I'm not digging in the mud to get stuff but if I'm close
             | I'll make an effort to collect trash. Same on the beach and
             | camp sites.
        
           | Tade0 wrote:
           | There's a loose mount on a swing at a nearby playground
           | that's been driving me crazy, because it goes klak-klak as
           | the swing swings, but I can't reach it from where I stand.
           | 
           | The swing did undergo some maintenance in the meantime, but
           | somehow that one part is still loose.
        
             | wolverine876 wrote:
             | I'd be careful repairing swings and similar equipment: If
             | you make a mistake, if you simply misunderstand some
             | mechanic of it (e.g., part X needs to be loose because of
             | tolerances for part Y), someone could get seriously
             | injured.
        
         | Mountain_Skies wrote:
         | When I lived in Atlanta, there was a large line item on my
         | annual property tax for street sweeping, which didn't seem to
         | make much of a difference at keeping the roads clear of debris.
         | There were many streets near me that obviously had not been
         | swept in years, and while I did see them come up my street a
         | few times, given the traffic volume, it has hardly frequent
         | enough. They also didn't seem to have any kind of communication
         | process between the police, who respond to traffic accidents,
         | and the street sweepers, who never came by after an accident
         | spread debris all over the road. Sometimes the police would
         | have a stiff push broom in their trunk to do a quick sweep of
         | the large stuff into the gutter but for the most part accident
         | sites would remain a hazard until it had rained enough to carry
         | the debris down to the storm drains to be clogged up by it.
         | 
         | People complain all the time about underfunded cities but if
         | every property in the city was getting charged as much as I was
         | per year, the street sweeping service should have been
         | worldclass. It's things like this that make people distrust
         | city government and not inclined to give them more money for
         | little return.
        
           | datadrivenangel wrote:
           | Atlanta, in addition to the traffic, is also known for their
           | corruption.
        
             | easyas124 wrote:
             | Every single American city has this to one degree or
             | another, even if it's just "hey, my brother owns a
             | landscaping business and can mow city hall...". But a
             | Byzantine government structure and a "fuck you, got mine"
             | attitude baked into the national ethos will do that.
        
               | datadrivenangel wrote:
               | Oh yeah. Atlanta is not unique in that regard. Great
               | city.
        
             | ethbr1 wrote:
             | Is it?
             | 
             | The Kasim Reed years produced a few federal prosecutions
             | [e.g. 0], but generally it's been pretty quiet?
             | 
             | And it's not like the US Attorney isn't looking. So either
             | Atlanta politicians are better at hiding their crimes, or
             | they aren't committing them at the average rate [1].
             | 
             | Subjectively, I'd say that Atlanta has a fair amount of
             | low-level corruption (see the Park amounts), but generally
             | avoids the major-level corruption that other cities get
             | caught in.
             | 
             | [0] https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy-large-when-the-
             | cost-you...
             | 
             | [1] https://pols.uic.edu/wp-
             | content/uploads/sites/273/2023/11/Co...
        
               | bigbillheck wrote:
               | The whole "Cop City" stuff seems pretty corrupt.
        
               | ethbr1 wrote:
               | Which part?
               | 
               | The city wants to use some land for a public purpose.
               | They steamrolled local opposition to do so.
               | 
               | It'd arguably be more corrupt if they turned around and
               | sold it to developers. (I haven't looked at the details
               | of how City Hall East was sold into Ponce City Market)
               | 
               | To me, corruption is individual enrichment at injury to
               | the public or subverting legal processes in place.
        
               | ethbr1 wrote:
               | Looked up the City Hall East sale, because I was curious.
               | 
               | Sold through the Atlanta Development Authority, in 2011,
               | for $27M, with a portion of the paid as the development
               | achieves milestones.
               | 
               | And gets a $600,000/yr expense off the city's books.
               | 
               | I walked through the entire empty building during the
               | sale... and could definitely say there needed to be a LOT
               | of renovation (including structural) before it was
               | usable.
               | 
               | Also, apparently holes between 12' ceiling floors were
               | acceptable safety practices when it was built. No OSHA!
               | 
               | https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2011/08/01/city-hall-east-
               | to-b...
        
           | vkou wrote:
           | Local politics is at the perfect junction where it's rarely
           | held under an inquisitor's microscope, and a few
           | developers/small businesses stand to benefit massively from
           | any corruption.
           | 
           | For bonus points, their elections are often staggered
           | separately from state and federal elections, which suppresses
           | voter interest and turnout.
           | 
           | You get what the system is designed to produce.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | I've noticed that things are lot better when it's actual city
           | officials who are not overworked vs contractors; our little
           | city owns the street sweepers and the road repair equipment
           | and the tree equipment and the snowplows, and it's basically
           | the same group of guys doing all that at different times, and
           | it works pretty well.
        
         | Cthulhu_ wrote:
         | This makes me complain to the local county and tell them they
         | should allocate more of my tax money to maintaining public
         | spaces.
        
         | xyst wrote:
         | Sounds great until your vac get clogged with used hypodermic
         | needles. Good luck cleaning that without getting pricked
        
         | doublerabbit wrote:
         | Already exist, I looked at one to pick up cig butts when I go
         | on my nightly litter picker walks.
         | 
         | Sadly they're unpractical and only last around 30mins ~
        
       | duxup wrote:
       | I really like stories of individual folks out there making the
       | world a better place. A motivated individual with some level of
       | exposure to the problem / solution often seems so much more
       | efficient than other solutions.
       | 
       | There's a local group that helps folks find stolen bikes:
       | 
       | https://www.wsj.com/us-news/your-bike-just-got-stolen-these-...
        
         | mtmail wrote:
         | Online I saw a guy with a power washer cleaning hate-speech
         | graffiti for free (e.g. swastikas in the US). I don't think he
         | does it for fame or clicks but even if it's a net positive.
        
           | chrisBob wrote:
           | I don't understand the "even if" comment. This is the one
           | benefit of these social platforms. If the attention really
           | motivates people to do something good, then have at it!
        
             | neocritter wrote:
             | One of my favorite YouTube channels uses the fame and
             | funding to take on dog grooming jobs no one else is able
             | to, or is able to devote enough time and detail to.
             | 
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OkGk2YRSnw
             | 
             | There's also an explosion of channels where professional
             | landscapers and pressure washers do the occasional free job
             | on a house in desperate need while recording it for
             | YouTube. It's great background TV and likely more effective
             | than any kind of paid advertising.
        
             | onemoresoop wrote:
             | Be careful with the attention seeking as an incentive.
             | People could stage all kind of things just to get the
             | attention they crave or monetize.
        
               | thefaux wrote:
               | yes, see the cobra effect.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | Is it? I know of one case where someone cleaned some graffiti
           | - but they didn't realize that there was priceless art under
           | that graffiti and their cleaning also destroyed the priceless
           | art. If experts had been called in they could found and used
           | the proper solvent and saved the art. (often this means work
           | a couple square cm at a time)
        
             | ssklash wrote:
             | I don't think we need to call in experts to decide if we
             | need to save swastika graffiti and other hate speech.
        
               | JohnMakin wrote:
               | They were saying there could be art under the hate
               | speech.. not that the hate speech was art..
        
             | dmd wrote:
             | That's going to be my kids' new excuse whenever I ask them
             | to do any cleaning whatsoever. WHAT IF THERE'S PRICELESS
             | ART UNDER THIS PILE OF LAUNDRY!? BETTER CALL IN THE
             | EXPERTS!
        
           | FireBeyond wrote:
           | "WIIFM".
           | 
           | I volunteered at an animal shelter that was not no-kill,
           | because of sheer demand, sadly.
           | 
           | Of new volunteers, they ask "What's in it for you?"
           | 
           | Inevitably, "I get to help animals find new homes, etc."
           | 
           | However they'd say "No - that's what you'll do here. But what
           | do you get out of it?"
           | 
           | And they wanted selfish answers. "I feel better about
           | myself", whatever.
           | 
           | Because what they'd found is when things were a struggle, it
           | was the "what's in it for me" that often pushed people to
           | keep helping and volunteering, rather than (solely) "the
           | mission".
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | > "I like to randomly do things to help when nobody's looking,"
         | Benigno said. "I'll do just random stuff to help improve things
         | that will benefit random people that I've never met before ...
         | it's just so that I can do a little thing to fix something so
         | somebody doesn't suffer down the road."
         | 
         | We need all of this we can get.
        
           | munificent wrote:
           | We also need all of this we can _give_.
           | 
           | So many people are unhappy these days because they feel they
           | aren't doing anything that meaningfully helps their
           | community. We're a social species. We thrive when we feel we
           | are helping our tribe thrive.
        
             | jajko wrote:
             | Any parent knows darn well that giving is so much better
             | for the giver than just receiving
        
           | dfxm12 wrote:
           | It frustrates me to see people in my neighborhood complain
           | about minor things on local social media, but do nothing
           | about it or even go out of their way to make things worse
           | (like complaining about trash on the sidewalk on an
           | especially windy day, or walking their dog on the high school
           | football field instead of the dog park, which is two blocks
           | (!!) further, for example). It feels like it is hard to get
           | people to to extend common courtesy towards their neighbors,
           | let alone do something good for someone they think they'll
           | never run into.
        
         | smm11 wrote:
         | I spent a summer 'rescuing' stolen bikes from (mostly homeless)
         | chopshops and under-bridge/in desert settlements, and only
         | found one or two of more than 50 former bike owners who wanted
         | their property back. The risk to me was too great, and I had
         | dozens of high-dollar, spraypainted, butchered former nice
         | bikes stuffed into my garage.
         | 
         | Never again.
        
           | duxup wrote:
           | The more vigilante side of things, gotta be careful too.
           | 
           | I have no problem telling / hoping someone would pickup the
           | trash they saw and helped out even if a little. But not so
           | much retrieving stolen bikes, those folks, their call.
        
           | sandworm101 wrote:
           | >> The risk to me was too great, and I had dozens of high-
           | dollar, spraypainted, butchered former nice bikes stuffed
           | into my garage.
           | 
           | Possession of stolen property is still a serious crime. There
           | is generally no exemption for vigilante people returning
           | stolen goods. I honestly would not advise amassing stolen
           | property in your garage no matter your good intentions.
           | Batman wears a mask for a reason.
        
             | crooked-v wrote:
             | I feel like that giant penny has to be over the line of
             | felony possession of stolen goods just by itself, right?
        
           | wolverine876 wrote:
           | > only found one or two of more than 50 former bike owners
           | who wanted their property back
           | 
           | Why didn't they want their bicycles?
        
             | smm11 wrote:
             | Insurance settlements and the hassle of fixing what were
             | basically trashed bikes. Yes, I realized I was in
             | possession of stolen property after a time. I also went
             | through a few baseball bats.
        
         | ericmcer wrote:
         | How much do you think it would cost the city to implement
         | something like this themselves? It would probably involve
         | hiring 2-3 bike riders, a manager, some people to
         | oversee/analyze the efficacy of the program, an approved supply
         | chain using approved vendors. They could probably get a couple
         | bikes with magnets on them riding around the city for < 3m
         | year.
        
           | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
           | If your point is that it costs less to have someone do
           | something for free than to hire and supervise workers to do
           | the same task, I don't think that's particularly insightful!
        
           | munificent wrote:
           | Well, the better approach at city scale is to use actual
           | street sweepers.
           | 
           | Magnets don't pick up broken glass.
        
           | scrose wrote:
           | The city would extend a no-bid contract to run a 6-month
           | pilot in a 3 block radius.
           | 
           | It'd go to a random company that never did anything related
           | to trash pick up, but one of the board members would be
           | loosely related to the mayor.
           | 
           | The mayor will then do a victory lap in front of journalists
           | talking about this revolutionary project.
           | 
           | The winner would then sub-contract a series of shell
           | companies to handle 'planning the design and implementation'
           | of the vehicle used to pick up the debris.
           | 
           | 3 months will pass and the first community board meeting
           | about the pilot in the neighborhood will happen, where the
           | project will hit vicious opposition from people citing
           | gentrification, how this pilot will rip apart the fabric of
           | the neighborhood, cause gridlock, be dangerous for kids (What
           | if a kid runs infront of the magnet bike??), etc...
           | 
           | 6 months and $5M later, the pilot gets extended and another
           | $50M worth of funding having never picked up an ounce of
           | trash.
           | 
           | Hello from NYC
        
         | ThisIsMyAltAcct wrote:
         | This guy on youtube goes around cleaning blocked drains and has
         | inspired some copycats
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV9dOHRDb3c
        
           | NotSammyHagar wrote:
           | thanks for posting, that was strangely a great and positive
           | example of what we can all do.
        
         | bsder wrote:
         | It's nice that individuals can do things like clean the streets
         | ...
         | 
         | But how about we actually fund street sweeping at a level that
         | this isn't necessary?
        
       | bluGill wrote:
       | I normally figure scrap iron goes for about $.35/lb. So he has
       | collected about $150 worth of scrap so far. Not a bad pay off for
       | getting your daily exercise. Too bad magnets cannot collect
       | aluminum or copper - both are more valuable.
       | 
       | He donated his collection to a scrap artist (probably a worthy
       | cause though that depends on your subjective opinion on the art
       | produced), so he doesn't get the money, but it is still fun to
       | figure out the value of his work.
        
         | RandomBacon wrote:
         | > the value of his work
         | 
         | That he could cash out on. The greater value is all the time in
         | people's lives that would have been wasted from damaged tires:
         | fixing or replacing the tire, time spent to earn money to fix
         | or replace the tire, the time people would have spent in
         | traffic trying to get around the disabled vehicles, etc.
        
         | no_wizard wrote:
         | The value is helping the community, first and foremost, isn't
         | it?
         | 
         | The computed dollar value is pale by comparison. We should talk
         | more about this community value IMO
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | There is more than one value. I talked about two of them, but
           | that doesn't mean those are the only two. That just means
           | that are the only two that I feel like I can contribute
           | anything to the discussion of in one topic. Technically I
           | probably should have written two posts so that discussion of
           | the art created and the scrap value of his collection can be
           | talked about separately.
        
       | zerohm wrote:
       | His IG is a pretty interesting follow (@atlantamagnetman) as he
       | has briefly explained the various iterations and improvements to
       | his magnet cart.
        
       | btbuildem wrote:
       | Not to sound like an armchair road-debris-cleaner but.. Wouldn't
       | it be much better to have the magnet contraption in the front of
       | the bike, so you can bravely delve into the most metal-shard-
       | infested areas without fear of puncturing your own tires?
        
         | PM_me_your_math wrote:
         | Pushing a trailer doesn't really work. You'd need an apparatus
         | big enough to hold magnets and FOD, and allow you to steer
         | unobstructed. A purpose built vehicle with a cab-over design
         | would be easier to control.
        
           | Cthulhu_ wrote:
           | Dutch cargo bikes / bakfietsen want a word.
           | 
           | That said, those are a lot higher off the ground; the video
           | shows the sweepers are only an inch or so over the ground. If
           | something catches, it's more likely to just make the cart
           | buck instead of sending the driver.
           | 
           | Source: am Dutch, rode into a rock once, that was pretty bad.
        
             | loeg wrote:
             | A dutch cargo bike still has the front wheel in front of
             | the load, too -- vulnerable to any sharp objects that the
             | magnets haven't picked up yet.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | Breaking down the word "trailer" pretty implies that it will
           | be something behind. Attempting to use the word trailer for
           | something that is in front just seems like an extreme abuse
           | of the word
        
         | _iv wrote:
         | The design is mostly limited by what can be built on a budget
         | from off-the-shelf components. Additionally, the magnets plus
         | accumulated scrap metal look pretty heavy- anything far enough
         | in front of the wheel base would change the center of mass in a
         | poor direction.
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | Pulling on something with a bike seems significantly easier
         | than pushing.
         | 
         | I think the rate of tire puncturing is low enough that you
         | wouldn't bother changing the design.
        
           | doubled112 wrote:
           | Plus if something goes wrong on a bike, you want it to go
           | wrong behind you.
           | 
           | What happens when the rear wheel locks up? Not much
           | 
           | What happens if the front wheel locks up? If it catches you
           | off guard, you're launched face first into pavement.
        
             | whycome wrote:
             | And a front wheel failure would mean you launch into the
             | 'metal contraption' ahead of you.
        
               | doubled112 wrote:
               | It's just helping break your fall.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | this is one of those lessons from high school physics that
           | has always stuck with me. taking the forces involved in
           | pushing and pulling and breaking them down into vectors,
           | pushing is always physically more expensive
        
           | wolverine876 wrote:
           | > I think the rate of tire puncturing is low enough that you
           | wouldn't bother changing the design.
           | 
           | Generally it's low, but in this case you are purposely
           | steering toward the debris. Usually you avoid it if you see
           | it.
        
         | mrob wrote:
         | You can get highly puncture-resistant bicycle tires, e.g.
         | Schwalbe Marathon Plus, which can survive riding over thumb
         | tacks. They're heavy, but if you're already pulling a heavy
         | magnet you probably won't mind.
        
         | IncreasePosts wrote:
         | No, it would be much more difficult to control. You can buy
         | kevlar tire liner to reduce the likelihood of punctures though.
        
       | WarOnPrivacy wrote:
       | Just yesterday I used picking up screws as an example of how
       | kindness is an underrated exercise in efficiency.
       | 
       | A minuscule effort up front avoids disproportionately larger
       | effort later.
        
       | stuaxo wrote:
       | "..Atlanta does quarterly street sweeping.." this stood out.
       | 
       | Is that the normal amount. In the UK I see sweepers around, I
       | guess maybe it takes that long to get around or do we just sweep
       | more in other countries ?
       | 
       | EDIT: I looked up my area in London
       | https://www.southwark.gov.uk/street-care/litter-on-streets-a...
       | Most residential roads in the borough receive a litter- picking
       | service every other day and are manually swept once every 5
       | weeks. Busy areas, such as retail areas, have a daily presence to
       | make sure they're kept clean and litter free.
       | 
       | I know US infrastructure is worse, but this is to quite a
       | ridiculous level - the amount of damage everyone is paying for,
       | for their cars is insane.
        
         | aquaticsunset wrote:
         | NYC street sweeping is once or twice a week, for the most part.
         | 
         | My (my much smaller, car dependent city) is annually.
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | > US infrastructure
         | 
         | The state of infrastructure greatly depends on where you are in
         | the US.
        
         | Mountain_Skies wrote:
         | The City of Atlanta, like many (most?) urban governments, can't
         | do simple tasks at a reasonable cost. It spent $27 million on a
         | pedestrian bridge over a surface road and during the primary
         | justification for it, the Super Bowl, wasn't even used.
         | 
         | https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/1/29/18201457/super-bowl-lii...
         | 
         | Around the same time, a nearby suburban county only spent $10
         | million for a pedestrian and road bridge over a heavily used
         | Interstate highway to get fans from parking areas to their
         | stadium.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | According to that article, it was used exactly for what it
           | was intended for - to allow the privileged to stay away from
           | the horrible urban masses.
        
         | seneca wrote:
         | > I know US infrastructure is worse, but this is to quite a
         | ridiculous level - the amount of damage everyone is paying for,
         | for their cars is insane.
         | 
         | It's not this bad everywhere. Atlanta is a notoriously corrupt
         | and poorly run city.
        
         | sf_rob wrote:
         | At a glance London has 4x the population density. Atlanta, like
         | most US cities, is sprawling. I would think this would make
         | street cleaning less economical (although not to the degree of
         | quarterly sweepings).
         | 
         | Dense US cities, such as SF and NYC, have more regular
         | sweepings.
        
         | rconti wrote:
         | My silicon valley residential area is swept twice a month. But
         | I'm not sure more major multi-lane arterials are ever swept. At
         | least, not during daylight hours.
        
         | duffyjp wrote:
         | Madison WI checking in. We get two passes in March then monthly
         | until winter. I checked our city website and the volume of
         | debris was pretty surprising to me:
         | 
         | > In 2023, 6,633.46 tons of debris was swept from the roads and
         | hauled to the Dane County Landfill.
        
         | rootusrootus wrote:
         | > I know US infrastructure is worse
         | 
         | You know what you hear online, you mean.
        
         | ericmcer wrote:
         | The amount of street sweeping is directly correlated with how
         | much they can make ticketing cars that are parked in street
         | sweeping zones. In San Francisco they sweep the streets daily
         | and throw $70-80 tickets to any car caught during sweeping
         | time. Does the street accumulate enough garbage in 24 hours to
         | warrant another sweeping? Irrelevant.
        
       | goda90 wrote:
       | Why doesn't the city run street sweepers on these roads?
        
         | TrueGeek wrote:
         | The article mentions that Atlanta runs sweeps quarterly. This
         | is only inside the city though. I live outside the city (25 to
         | 90 minutes depending on traffic) and we don't get any sweeping.
         | The intersection outside our neighborhood gets about an
         | accident a week and it's just constantly filled with glass and,
         | occasionally, bumpers. The tow truck drivers are normally kind
         | enough to sweep it to the side but that isn't great for
         | cyclists. Everyone drives SUVs here and their tires are big
         | enough that glass doesn't matter so no one is going to agree to
         | pay for sweepers.
        
           | Cthulhu_ wrote:
           | And that's just off to the side, it'll accumulate and / or
           | spread from there.
           | 
           | When I visited the US and its highways, I was surprised to
           | see how much things like exploded truck tires were littering
           | the sides of the road.
        
             | sokoloff wrote:
             | Drive in the south in the summertime and the "road gators"
             | (truck tire remnants) are often in the middle of travel
             | lanes.
        
         | yborg wrote:
         | Doesn't solve the problem, just pushes the stuff into the curbs
         | where it then is a concentrated threat to bike tires. What they
         | should do is mount a big electromagnet on the back of the
         | sweeper to then pick any metal up.
        
           | goda90 wrote:
           | The sweepers I'm familiar with sweep the debris under the
           | machine and then into a holding space. Does that not work
           | with this kind of debris?
        
           | BatFastard wrote:
           | Street sweepers actually do pick up the debris, not just
           | deposit it in the gutter. At least here in Atlanta they do.
        
       | gadders wrote:
       | What a good dude.
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | More heavily engineered version of a similar idea:
       | https://bikelanesweeper.com/
        
         | Cthulhu_ wrote:
         | The exact image and thing is mentioned in the article.
        
           | LazyMans wrote:
           | We don't read articles here! Just the comments!
        
       | foolinaround wrote:
       | Kudos to the Magnet man!!
       | 
       | if that magnet cart design could be open-sourced, then it might
       | be updated or made cheaper by others, and used in other places
       | too!
        
       | einpoklum wrote:
       | Most important point in that story AFAIAC:
       | 
       | > Atlanta's transportation department budget was cut by 12% last
       | year. ... about $50 million is three times less than peer cities.
       | 
       | sad.
        
       | Jun8 wrote:
       | Oh man, this _really_ strikes home for me:
       | 
       | Last month we had to shell out close to $1k to replace all four
       | tires when a large (>10cm) nail punctured one. Costco guy said
       | you had to change all of them, I didn't't believe him but after
       | research found out that if you have some mileage on your tires,
       | you can't just change one (actually there was mentioned of
       | reducing the grooves of the new tire to match the old ones but
       | that sounded error prone).
       | 
       | We need a magnet man for all big cities!
        
         | kurthr wrote:
         | Unless you have a lot of wear on your tires, or you're driving
         | an AWD, it's unusual to need to replace more than 2 tires.
         | 
         | The argument on AWD is that it might cause more expensive
         | increased wear on the AWD system in off-road conditions. If
         | you're only driving on roads this probably isn't such a big
         | deal, and some sports cars don't even have the same size tires
         | front/back.
         | 
         | Most nails and screws (1/8" or 3mm) in the middle of the tire
         | can be patched (if you're not driving >100mph), but that was
         | one BIG nail! Side walls really can't be safely patched, and
         | most places won't patch anything even close.
        
           | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
           | I heard a loud clicking noise while driving to work one day
           | and pulled over to check. Had an "eggbeater-type" mixer
           | sticking out of my tire sidewall.
           | 
           | Shop asked if they could have it for their countertop display
           | of weird stuff they pulled out of tires.
           | 
           | Anyway, they recommended replacing both front tires, but I
           | only did the one and it was fine. I understand the reasoning,
           | I just don't agree with it because tires simply don't wear at
           | the same rate.
        
           | whaleofatw2022 wrote:
           | Above is semi dependent on the AWD system.
           | 
           | If it is one of the 'typical' ones you see on something like
           | a Ford Escape or Chevy Blazer where it activates on slippage,
           | you are probably OK on normal roads as long as the wear isn't
           | extreme.
           | 
           | But if it's something with a 50/50 default split or other
           | 'always on' fanciness, tires are cheaper than Diffs.
        
         | xeromal wrote:
         | You can avoid this by having a full-sized spare and rotating it
         | in during your tire rotations. It's what I do so if one goes to
         | shit, you still have 4 even ones left. If you never have a
         | failure, you get much better mileage because one of your tires
         | always gets to rest.
        
         | bongodongobob wrote:
         | That's only true for AWD. Otherwise it's 2. Also, consider
         | buying used for a fraction of the price. Plenty of cars with
         | good tires end up in junkyards. I've never bought new tires.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | If you do not have free labor and time used tires are not
           | worth it. You don't save much money and you have to replace
           | them sooner which means even more time of yours spent.
           | 
           | Used tires make sense for used car dealers where they have
           | the equipment and can tell a mechanic to do this "when you
           | have otherwise free time". In that case you can replace worn
           | out tires with only half used tires and since you won't see
           | the car again you don't lose anything. (nobody would buy the
           | car with worn out tires so you have to replace them, but
           | saving money on the replacement is a good idea)
        
             | legitster wrote:
             | You have no idea what you are talking about. Look up used
             | tire shops in your city.
             | 
             | To OP's point, most of the used tires are nearly brand new
             | tires that are getting tossed out because 1 of the set had
             | a flat. So I am rolling on $300 Hanook tires with 95% of
             | their tread life, and I only paid $50 a tire (including
             | install).
             | 
             | These are also mom & pop businesses that are actively
             | preventing waste.
             | 
             | I made the switch to used tires and have never looked back.
        
               | bombcar wrote:
               | Used tires are great, especially if you're in a city of
               | almost any moderate size or larger.
               | 
               | If you're in a small town, the hassle of finding the
               | right size may be enough to make the new tires worth it.
               | 
               | Either way, you can almost always find a "free install"
               | somewhere.
        
             | bongodongobob wrote:
             | You're just wrong all around here.
        
         | onemoresoop wrote:
         | Does replacing only two tires on each side not work in this
         | case?
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | You want to replace fronts or rears at the same time, not
           | sides.
        
             | onemoresoop wrote:
             | Could you please explain why is that?
        
               | BoorishBears wrote:
               | Front tires have matching functionality, back tires have
               | matching functionality, regardless of drivetrain. You
               | don't want differing capacity for the same function
               | (steering, braking, or acceleration) on the left and
               | right side or the car will pull to one side.
        
               | legitster wrote:
               | The suspension of the car is designed to distribute
               | weight to make the car ride evenly. Even small diameter
               | differences across your car might send the weight to one
               | side. Best case you prematurely wear the tires. Worse
               | case it creates unsafe handling characteristics when
               | turning.
               | 
               | In contrast the regularly tilts forwards and back, and
               | little changes back and forth don't affect steering.
        
         | wtracy wrote:
         | The last time I had to replace four tires at once, the mechanic
         | could no longer source the model of tire that my car had, and
         | refused to mix tire models on my car.
        
         | nradov wrote:
         | You can just change one tire, but you need to shave the tread
         | down to match the depth of the others or else it will damage
         | the drive train (mismatched rotation speeds). This is
         | particularly important for AWD vehicles due to wear on the
         | differentials.
         | 
         | Costco doesn't offer that service. But you can order a shaved
         | replacement from Tire Rack and they'll ship it to a local shop
         | for installation. This works fine but takes a few days so it's
         | only practical if you can leave the vehicle parked.
         | 
         | https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/can-tires-be-shaved-...
        
         | sandworm101 wrote:
         | >> After research found out that if you have some mileage on
         | your tires, you can't just change one
         | 
         | You go played by the mechanic. Even if the tread depth thing
         | was an issue, you could have swapped out two rather than four.
         | Unless you are racing, your car will be fine with slightly
         | different treads rear and front. The reality is that most cars
         | are like that anyway. Fronts often wear more than rears these
         | days. So unless you are rotating your tires every month, tread
         | depths will be different no matter what you do.
        
           | legitster wrote:
           | If OP has an AWD the mechanic has to swap out all four.
        
             | sandworm101 wrote:
             | The AWD argument is one of those things that sounds logical
             | but really isn't. Lots of AWD vehicles, I would say most
             | AWD vehicles, are driving around with slightly different
             | sized tired front-to-rear. Fronts just wear faster than
             | rears. So within a few miles even a brand new car will have
             | slightly smaller fronts than rear. The diff will be fine.
             | 
             | Think of this scenario. What happens when someone sits in
             | the back seat of a car? That compresses the rear tires
             | slightly, imparting a slightly a different radius. Many
             | cars will ask you to increase rear PSI to compensate, but
             | nobody ever does. Are diffs failing for this? Nope. AWD
             | cars and trucks manage carrying a random number of rear
             | passengers just fine without any adjustment to tire radii.
        
               | legitster wrote:
               | I am not an expert on the sorts of computer chicanery
               | that goes into AWD systems. But there is quite a big
               | difference between the normal discrepancies that happen
               | while driving and throwing in one or two brand new tires.
               | Especially given that AWDs are already supposed to
               | account for things like wheel slippage and power
               | distribution.
               | 
               | Besides, regardless if it's a myth - doing it will void
               | your warranty, it's a requirement in every AWD service
               | manual, and any tire guy caught doing it will be held
               | liable if your diff blows up later. No mechanic or tire
               | shop will agree to swapping out just two.
        
               | sandworm101 wrote:
               | Everything voids warranties. If you are driving a new
               | car, ie one still under warrantee, then you have to do
               | whatever they want you to do. But there are lots of
               | little myths about fixing cars, stuff leveraged by
               | mechanics. Telling people that a diff will "blow" should
               | the tires be 0.1% different in size is one of those
               | myths. The entire purpose of a diff is to allow wheels to
               | turn at different rates, hence the name _different_ ial.
               | Only when you are getting towards differences enough to
               | trigger anti-slip mechanisms during normal driving would
               | it become an issue.
               | 
               | The manual probably also says that aftermarket oil/air
               | filters will void warrantees, or that changing your own
               | brake pads is dangerous. Total bunk.
        
               | legitster wrote:
               | Most AWDs use a central diff for all four wheels. It's
               | for distributing different amounts of torque front and
               | back. It's not quite the same as a 2WD or 4WD
               | differential(s) that only handle left/right. It's not at
               | all the same as just a big open differential. A central
               | diff compensating for front/back distribution while also
               | handling a _constant_ mismatched load on one side is
               | definitely going to mess it up.
               | 
               | If it's your car feel free to try it and tell me if you
               | get a bunch of dash lights from your AWD computer.
               | 
               | > The manual probably also says that aftermarket oil/air
               | filters will void warrantees, or that changing your own
               | brake pads is dangerous.
               | 
               | If your manual actually says this I will eat my hat. It's
               | literally illegal in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wik
               | i/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty...
        
               | KennyBlanken wrote:
               | If you have a true full-time AWD vehicle such as a Subaru
               | or Audi with longitudinal engine, then mismatched tire
               | wear will cause increased wear and tear on the center
               | differential, which is expensive and difficult to get to.
               | This is especially true if the differential is limited-
               | slip.
               | 
               | If you have a torsen or similar FWD car that only engages
               | the rear wheels when slip is detected (most Audis with
               | transverse mounted engines, VWs, etc), then you're fine.
               | 
               | Tire diameter in passenger cars does not change with
               | loading.
        
               | creato wrote:
               | Such cars also have rotating the tires as part of the
               | maintenance schedule. If you rotate the tires, I don't
               | think the difference in size will be significant.
               | 
               | > Think of this scenario. What happens when someone sits
               | in the back seat of a car? That compresses the rear tires
               | slightly, imparting a slightly a different radius.
               | 
               | The tire radius changes, but that doesn't matter. What
               | matters is the rate at which the axle turns relative to
               | distance covered, and I doubt that changes significantly
               | with loading.
        
         | Der_Einzige wrote:
         | So, I straight up don't get how this works but there's a tire
         | shop called "discount tire" which "insures" tires for such a
         | nominal fee that I couldn't believe it. I've gone through three
         | sets of tires now for a price of approximately ~40$ each set
         | (the new sets keep insurance). This is for a Lexus. That tire
         | shop has to have lost a whole lot of money on my car, but they
         | have no issues with this policy at all.
         | 
         | Did I just get extremely lucky? Is this the norm? Tires seem
         | really expensive but somehow I'm not paying the fees and my
         | tires are good quality goodyears too.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | Many places "insure" the tire to a certain amount depending
           | on road wear.
           | 
           | Most people forget about the "tire insurance" and never
           | claim, even if they could, so it's basically free money.
           | 
           | They give you new tires because it doesn't cost them
           | anything, they get paid.
           | 
           | Discount considers it part of their marketing, so they
           | actually have a pretty decent one:
           | https://www.discounttire.com/customer-service/certificates
           | 
           | It IS limited to 3 years.
        
       | rrauenza wrote:
       | Whenever I see a screw or nail in the street or parking lot, I
       | always pick it up and naively hope that karma will prevent my
       | tire from picking up one in another location.
        
         | bluGill wrote:
         | I figure it costs $10 to repair a tire. So I saved someone $10
         | every time I do this. Sometimes that someone is me.
        
         | Symbiote wrote:
         | I pick up empty bottles and put them in the nearest glass bin.
         | There are glass bins on both corners approaching my apartment,
         | so I don't even need to walk out of my way to do this.
         | 
         | Most of them would probably stay for a few days until someone
         | cleans the street, but it only takes one unhappy drunk to knock
         | a bottle into the street.
         | 
         | I probably look like a terminal alcoholic to my neighbours.
        
       | limaoscarjuliet wrote:
       | He is saving our bike tires rather, as he seems to ride the
       | shoulder more than the car lanes (and rightly so).
       | 
       | I live in Atlanta, ride both car and bicycle and do not have flat
       | tire more often than average. Perhaps thanks to his help!
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | Most roadside debris is on the shoulder as it gets knocked
         | there pretty quickly out of traffic lanes - and it can still
         | affect the cars if you have to cross them.
         | 
         | Every time I've had a flat caused by a road item it has been on
         | or very near the shoulder.
        
       | bjornlouser wrote:
       | "Nearly every day, Benigno bikes about 10 miles and picks up
       | around six pounds of debris -- about the max the magnets can
       | carry. Over the course of eight weeks, he collected over 410
       | pounds of metal..."
        
         | ajb wrote:
         | Yeah that stood out to me too. What the heck is dropping all
         | this stuff?
         | 
         | Round here if you put any sizeable metal (like a radiator or
         | something) out front of your house someone will collect it to
         | take for scrap. So if there were that amount of metal on the
         | roads they would be keen to attach magnets to their vans.
         | Although if it needs a large number of high quality magnets to
         | do the job, it might not be economic for them.
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | I've watched trash just blow off of trash trucks, bounce out
           | of trailers.
           | 
           | You'd think there would be better enforcement of having to
           | have a tarp, etc. for open trailers that are carrying junk.
        
       | newsclues wrote:
       | I would love for local bike shops to build these and let people
       | use them.
        
         | StarlaAtNight wrote:
         | Any tech folks here want to help people that do this collect
         | data on how much they get and where from? Zero clue how useful
         | that would be, but it would certainly be interesting
        
       | verisimi wrote:
       | His name is 'Beningo' - meaning "benevolent , kind" from
       | https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/spanish-english/...
       | 
       | also benign.
        
         | ASalazarMX wrote:
         | Benigno is a common name, and also has the same meaning, in
         | Spanish. What a perfect aptonym.
        
       | mschuster91 wrote:
       | > Nearly every day, Benigno bikes about 10 miles and picks up
       | around six pounds of debris -- about the max the magnets can
       | carry.
       | 
       | As an European, this left me a bit shocked. Where is that debris
       | even coming from? Shoddily "maintained" vehicles? Insecure loads?
       | And why are there no sweeper trucks sweeping the streets and bike
       | lanes?
        
       | secstate wrote:
       | The last line in the article jumped out at me: "A lot of folks
       | ... they're kind of DIY-ing it until we can get the level of
       | public service that we really need."
       | 
       | I am through "A Paradise Built in Hell" right now, and that,
       | combined with having spent 6 years in a (small) town leadership
       | position makes me appreciate the unfortunate consequences of
       | thought like that last line.
       | 
       | It feels like leaning hard into capitalist democracy rather than
       | socialist democracy. The idea that things don't get done unless
       | someone gets off their butt, puts a line item in the budget and
       | makes sure someone is getting paid to do it not because they want
       | to but because their compensation is adequate is destined to fail
       | in really unfortunate ways.
       | 
       | Part of the book referenced above is all about the failure of the
       | "organized" parts of government in times of crisis. It turns out,
       | most people in community want things to be better, but learning
       | that the "city" or "county" will do it for you if you just pay
       | your taxes kind of neuters the impulse to be a part of your
       | community. Instead of cleaning up the road side, people end up
       | with book clubs or art committees, because someone's getting paid
       | $12/hr to clean up the road for you. It's not a great look, and
       | has disastrous consequences when things go really bad.
        
         | jollyllama wrote:
         | Yes and what's going on there is that the official is
         | uncomfortable because the failure of government is being
         | exposed by guys like Magnet Man. They're so petty and feckless
         | that they can't cooperate with him, or deputize him in some
         | way.
        
           | secstate wrote:
           | Having been a public official your adjectives for the public
           | official in this case made my hackles go up for a moment, but
           | you're also absolutely right. The hidden assumption in those
           | sorts of statements is that it's all good for volunteers to
           | try to help, but one day "authorized" people will be able to
           | do that work, but only if we are allowed to raise your taxes.
           | Sigh.
           | 
           | The problem is, not all bureaucrats are evil, but all
           | bureaucracy begins at neutral and tends towards evil, so
           | there's a sad inevitability involved. And my hackles went up
           | because even I, who consider myself pretty self-aware, ended
           | up in some horrible conversations where I know I preferred
           | the town having authority over something volunteers had
           | historically done. We are all part-nazi, some of us just have
           | more authority.
        
       | beavis000 wrote:
       | The author David Sedaris is apparently a compulsive trash picker-
       | upper. He's said he has walked for up to 9 hours per days picking
       | up garbage on the side of the road all the while. His town in the
       | UK named a garbage truck after him, and he was invited to meet
       | the Queen of England because of it (she used to meet with people
       | who performed large amounts of community service).
        
         | rockostrich wrote:
         | His stories about some of the things he encountered on these
         | walks are pretty funny. Can't wait for the next installment of
         | his memoirs.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | Loved the video. I was getting some Katamari Damacy vibes from
       | all those bolts and such glomming onto his magnets.
        
       | notatoad wrote:
       | >And while Atlanta does quarterly street sweeping
       | 
       | i don't really know what a normal street sweeping schedule is,
       | but this seems kinda infrequent? i know my town does a big sweep
       | in the spring after the snow melts, but it seems like most of the
       | major routes and all of downtown is on more like a weekly to
       | monthly basis.
        
         | culopatin wrote:
         | Weekly where I am.
        
         | hammock wrote:
         | Monthly in Chicago. Between apr-oct. Frequency needed probably
         | depends on how many trees you have
        
       | charlescearl wrote:
       | The bitter irony of Georgia attorney general filing RICO charges
       | against forest defenders for the act of "mutual aid". This is
       | what mutual aid is - a community actively working together to
       | address the neglect of the state.
        
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