Businesses fed up with tailgating trash after games at CenturyLink
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SEATTLE -- One business is fed up with the tons of tailgating trash that are generated during every Seahawks and Husky home game.
Shelby Sewell runs a restaurant and catering business a half a mile from CenturyLink Field. Tailgate alley runs for two long blocks behind her First Avenue business.
It's actually a city street, with no city trash bins -- only private ones.
"The tailgaters come out, sometimes they spend the night, they start at 6 in the morning," Sewell said. "They bring out their barbeques... and they party."
She locks her trash bins, but routinely, on Monday morning she finds her locks broken, her bins overflowing with tailgater trash.
"I have to pay extra fees to pick it up, it's a cost to my business," she says. "It's costing me employee time and money and it's a hazard."
It's more than a hazard -- it's illegal to dump your garbage into someone else's garbage bin.
On one Monday, a city worker showed up to pick up some trash, but he stayed just on one side of the street, ignoring Sewell's employee picking up trash on the other side.
"I don't care if the city wants to have people tailgating -- that's fine but, be responsible for what that means because there's a fallout from it," Sewell said.
She says she's called and emailed the city, with no response.
So she called the Problem Solvers. We showed Seattle's Director of Solid Waste our pictures and described how a city worker ignored the piles of tailgate trash near Sewell's bins.
"To me, that's all close to the right of way, our people would get it," said Timothy Croll.
But it turns out, it's not that simple. As part of the 1998 agreement to build what was then called Seahawks Stadium, the Seahawks' stadium management company, First and Goal, agreed to pay for picking up tailgate trash 500 feet from the stadium for any large event, including Husky and Sounders games. It then it grew to roughly 1,000 feet.
But since the stadium has been built, parking has disappeared because of building construction and tunnel construction and that's forced the tailgaters much farther south, thousands of feet away from the stadium. And Sewell's business is located right on the edge.
But things are changing.
"We are just focused on getting the problem solved," Croll said.
After we contacted the Seahawks and the city, both have agreed to extended the pickup boundaries farther south.
So the weekend after the city and Seahawks pledged to fix it, there was a UW home game against Oregon State. We later went back to Sewell's area after the tailgating party and found no mess.
"They came and cleaned up after the game," Sewell said. "We'll see if it sticks."
Of course, the real solution is for tailgaters to take responsibility.
"They can just bag it up and throw it in the car, you have a designated disposer," Croll said.
We'll see if that will really happen.
Shelby Sewell runs a restaurant and catering business a half a mile from CenturyLink Field. Tailgate alley runs for two long blocks behind her First Avenue business.
It's actually a city street, with no city trash bins -- only private ones.
"The tailgaters come out, sometimes they spend the night, they start at 6 in the morning," Sewell said. "They bring out their barbeques... and they party."
She locks her trash bins, but routinely, on Monday morning she finds her locks broken, her bins overflowing with tailgater trash.
"I have to pay extra fees to pick it up, it's a cost to my business," she says. "It's costing me employee time and money and it's a hazard."
It's more than a hazard -- it's illegal to dump your garbage into someone else's garbage bin.
On one Monday, a city worker showed up to pick up some trash, but he stayed just on one side of the street, ignoring Sewell's employee picking up trash on the other side.
"I don't care if the city wants to have people tailgating -- that's fine but, be responsible for what that means because there's a fallout from it," Sewell said.
She says she's called and emailed the city, with no response.
So she called the Problem Solvers. We showed Seattle's Director of Solid Waste our pictures and described how a city worker ignored the piles of tailgate trash near Sewell's bins.
"To me, that's all close to the right of way, our people would get it," said Timothy Croll.
But it turns out, it's not that simple. As part of the 1998 agreement to build what was then called Seahawks Stadium, the Seahawks' stadium management company, First and Goal, agreed to pay for picking up tailgate trash 500 feet from the stadium for any large event, including Husky and Sounders games. It then it grew to roughly 1,000 feet.
But since the stadium has been built, parking has disappeared because of building construction and tunnel construction and that's forced the tailgaters much farther south, thousands of feet away from the stadium. And Sewell's business is located right on the edge.
But things are changing.
"We are just focused on getting the problem solved," Croll said.
After we contacted the Seahawks and the city, both have agreed to extended the pickup boundaries farther south.
So the weekend after the city and Seahawks pledged to fix it, there was a UW home game against Oregon State. We later went back to Sewell's area after the tailgating party and found no mess.
"They came and cleaned up after the game," Sewell said. "We'll see if it sticks."
Of course, the real solution is for tailgaters to take responsibility.
"They can just bag it up and throw it in the car, you have a designated disposer," Croll said.
We'll see if that will really happen.
I went to the game last Sunday...had my son drop me off at Starbucks headquarters and walked the rest of the way (would have taken the bus but since Metro changed the routes... another story). My guess is that most of these tailgaters are not residents of the city of Seattle and can I just say that a lot of people were really drunk -" not my home", inebriated, it does not surprise me at all they they also don't pick up their trash. Glad that the city and Seahawks are working on this - the games provide revenue for businesses and the city, should be able to fix this.
Please bring your own trash bags and take all your trash back home to your neighborhood and dispose of it at your own expense. Just like when you go hiking in the mountains: Leave nothing but footprints.
Sounds like they have a herd of SEA PIGS.
The situation is a prefect example of the arrogance and selfishness of the people in the Seattle area. Believe it or not, we weren't always such a$$holes around here. Used to be that people in this area had respect for other people and their property. Sadly this is no longer the case.
I am ashamed to say that I was born and raised in Seattle. Only a court summons can get me into Seattle these days.
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@Bornhere I have to admit, that although I live in West Seattle and like where I live, the people of this city are rude, arrogant, and very much like you said.
Of course, the real solution is for tailgaters to take responsibility.Â
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LOL. Few people take personal responsibility! EVER. I would never leave garbage behind on a city street. That is so disrespectful! I am sure the people leaving the garbage complain about taxes but what do you think the city will use to clean it up? Tax dollars!  Pick up after yourselves people!
 @Northend And the same people go into a beautiful stadium and it's the norm to do the same thing, leave a bunch of trash in the stands, I just don't get that mentality.
 @oledawg  @Northend probably leave big messes behind in movie theaters too- for someone else to clean up. Jerks!
That is shameful. Â Some people must live like hogs.
It comes down to personal responsibility. Everyone one claims smokers have a "right" to smoke - that they are courteous & pick up after themselves. But we still see butts all over the ground, and they are one of the largest quantity of items cleaned iup from highways & byways. The tail gaters seem to operate on the same principal - it's their "right" to party, and someone else will pick up after them. Too bad there is no policing while it is going on, giving tickets & fines for trashing other people's property. Maybe they need to create a "tail gater's park" - put all the partiers in one single place & charge admission for the area, with the money collected going to clean up the mess they leave behind.
 @LocalLady If I owned a business affected by this, I would put a camera near my dumpster or where ever I was finding the trash, and then I would post footage to a web site meant to shame the people who think it is OK to expect someone else to clean up their mess.
 @LocalLady in all fairness I was raised by 2 smokers who smoked 2 packs per day and never left their butts anywhere. My parents would carry the butt and dispose of it later. I got smacked for spitting gum onto the ground as a kid. Don't blanket statement the smokers.  I hate smoking myself and my parents finally quit, but it's not all smokers that toss their garbage onto the ground.
 @LocalLady Unfortunately, for the most part, people are now the "Not me" type of mentality. They like to enjoy things but the moment there is the question of cleanup or culpability, they throw up their hands and act like they had nothing to do with it. Which is unfortunate that seemingly adult people act like two year olds. Im not saying tail gater types are all bad, mind you, but the rule is "it only takes one to ruin it for everyone else."
Probably just me, but if it were my business, I would push all the tailgating trash into the middle of the street.  See if the city could ignore it then.
No, no, silly business owner: sports stadiums are good for the economy because they bring business downtown. Get with the program!
Maybe they could do something like require each vehicle that leaves the lot to leave with a full bag of garbage or pay a fine? Bag could be an inexpensive/large bag printed with the date/mascot of the teams for the day - so people couldn't cheat...there must be an easy way of solving the problem...why do some people have to be such slobs anyway?
As a tailgater myself, I agree that the people who leave their trash behind are pigs and are ruining it for everyone else. Take out what you take in. On a side note, I tailgate at a spot that charges $50.00 per car and their lot can hold approxiamtely 75-100 cars. $50.00 x 75 cars is $3,750 and with 8 home Seahawks games and 6 home Husky games that's approximatley $52,000 for 14 days worth of trash they are complaining about. Just sayin.
 @nick:Â
Oh, so since you pay fpor the priviledge of being there & the lot collects money, you are saying it's alriught to trash it? Talk about an entitlement attitude!
I think he is saying for 50$ they should have trash collection on site. I agree.
Or...the drunk slobs could just clean up after themselves. Ya know, the pack-it-in-pack-it-out value system.Â
 @Citizen#3457899654 You are assuming they have "values".
Pigs! They can bring it but they can't take it back home. Pigs in the city, and pigs in the woods too.
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People (clean people) using the back country have a saying - Pack it in, pack it out.
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Funny thing is, it's lighter now that the beer, pop, liquor and food is all consumed leaving just the containers. Guess the pigs think it's now heavier. Stupid pigs!
What else would you expect from sports fans?
 @contraryjim Dumbass thing to say. You have to either be a troll to post such a dumb statement or not very bright or a combination of both (very likely the latter). I guess that I can also make an assumption that anyone that would make such a blanket statement as this is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Most sports fans I know are very courteous and responsible people. Slobs come from all walks of life.
 @contraryjim I am a sports fan and I throw my trash in the garbage.  I don't even leave my trash at my seat, I'll take it with me and throw it away on the way out.  My dad taught me that when I was young, we stayed after a game and he showed me how the people had to go around and clean it all up, lazy pigs leave all that trash behind.
 @oledawg  @contraryjim I hate sports, but don't think all sports fans are jerks.
 @contraryjim says Jim the birdwatcher. Nice blanket statement
Well, you know, you could add some more containers as Devin pointed out. I know if i was a tailgater, I'd be somewhat more responsible, but you need to remember that there are so many irresponsible jackasses out there who ruin stuff for everyone else.
Simple Solution: ADD SOME MORE TRASH/RECYCLE BINS! Â There is not nearly enough ways to dispose of trash downtown.
 @Devin Regney NO!!!! These f'ing pigs need to TAKE THEIR TRASH WITH THEM. Lazy ba$tards.
 @Bornhere  @Devin Regney And dispose of it on their own dime! Tailgating done responsibly is OK. Maybe this problem could also be used as a fundraiser? Say a local school or charitable organization needs money, maybe they could collect the trash for donations from the tailgaters? Just a passing thought.
Its worst at other cities but the FB teams clean up a pickup the tab.
City of Seattle, Joe Diamond and WM don't like to hear that kind of crazy talk about common sense...
no shock here - i mean, how could you expect someone to be responsible for their own trash?
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just start writing fines for the tailgaters' caught using business' waste bins. then wait for them to drive off and get them for DUI while you are at it....
Seems like the city or the stadiums should be required to put out extra dumpsters on tailgating days. Â Of course people will probably still act like filthy pigs and throw trash around but maybe it'd help? Â
I would do an old fashion stake out with a camera, record as much as possible, catch people in the act and call the police over and over again with the video proof, it's probably the only way to get it to stop. Â It's sad that the businesses have to protect themselves this way from a bunch of pigs who aren't responsible for their own mess.
 @oledawg Actually, instead of calling the cops, put them on TV so everyone knows who they are. Â
 @oledawg That's why we have the government we do.
Pack it in, pack it out. Maybe that's too simple for people to understand. I think I learned that back in my boy scouting days.
What pigs.Â
I find it ironic that we tout ourselves as a 'Green' city, yet the behavior of our collective selves can't even be responsible to clean up afterwards after tailgating. -- Would these people do the same in a public State or National Park?
 @Kermee Yes, they would do the very same in a park. Arrogant pigs are arrogant pigs, no matter where they are.
 @Kermee I have a feeling they would if they knew they could get away with it.
 @Illuminati Duh. I didn't think of it that way. Excellent point.