Something stinks in one of San Francisco’s most affluent neighborhoods.
Bags of dog poop have been appearing for months on Jackson Street in Presidio Heights. The waste bags get dropped around a cluster of temporary “no parking” signs peppering the block for various construction projects along the street’s luxury homes.
On certain streets in other neighborhoods, like SoMa, dodging piles of excrement — animal, human, whatever — is a mundane challenge. But in one of the city’s poshest areas, it prompted a sternly worded public letter, heightened personal security, and viral social media commentary that’s since been deleted.
One homeowner has taken measures to the extreme, pointing surveillance cameras at the dumping ground in front of the house and, in a letter posted nearby, threatening to expose the smelly perp.
Amid geopolitical turmoil and San Francisco’s enduring struggles, Greg Long poked fun at the fiasco in an Instagram post that drew thousands of views Monday. Long lives down the street from the camera-equipped home.
“Forget Epstein, forget war with Iran,” the post said. The video, which had nearly 8,000 likes Monday before it was taken down, showed a paper sign outside the gated property reading, “Your images from our security camera are now all over social media. Enjoy the attention.” The homemade poster included pictures of a hooded, silhouetted figure reaching toward one of the signs, dog leash in hand.
Greg Long poked fun at his neighbor in an Instagram post before deleting it. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard
The homeowner declined to comment when approached outside the house, which has a value of $15 million, according to Zestimate. The two cameras remained trained on the signs where poop bags had evidently been discarded but there were no offending baggies in sight. The sign, meanwhile, had also been torn down.
The homeowner at 3368 Jackson St. warned poo dumpers that their images would be posted online. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard
The neighborhood drama had become too hot for even Long to discuss. He agreed to an interview but then backed out and took down the video.
“I don’t want my neighbors to think I’m unneighborly,” he said in a text.
He later texted Tuesday that he’s worried about legal action by his camera-friendly neighbor. Long posted an Instagram story that day saying he’s going to be “backing off” posting about his neighbor or her sign due to the unexpected attention it generated. He specifically mentioned concerns about a journalist (that’s me!) who interviewed his wife and that neighbors were razzing him.
“I’m suddenly the dog-poop guy, and like, no, no, no kids. I’m not the dog-poop guy,” he said in the video (opens in new tab).
A Presidio Heights resident who threatened to post photos of people leaving dog poop bags still had signs up when The Standard visited Monday. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard
Long’s wife, Erica Olson, said his post was meant to shine a light on the “stupidity and privilege” of someone being so upset about bagged-up dog poop being left by a temporary sign on a sidewalk outside their property that they installed cameras and a menacing sign.
Olson’s opinion is that both her neighbor and the person leaving bags of dog poop are in the wrong. While the homeowner has the right to install cameras, surveilling passersby isn’t neighborly behavior. But then, neither is leaving leaving bags of poop near someone’s house.
“The whole thing is stupid,” Olson said. “It’s a bit of fun.”
“The whole thing is stupid,” Erica Olson says. | Source: Garrett Leahy/The Standard
The stinky affair has fueled speculation among the neighbors.
Kate, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and declined to share her last name, said she’s frequently seen the green waste bags littering signs on her side of the street, opposite the home with the cameras and warning.
Her theory is that there’s a single culprit who is protesting the noise and inconveniences caused by the construction sites.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” she said.
A woman who works as a housekeeper at a home on the street theorized that a lack of public trash cans led the dog walker to discard the droppings. Another observer said they were baffled by the scatalogical behavior, noting that the offender had already bagged up the poop, then didn’t bother to take it and throw it away: “What’s wrong with people?”
One neighbor who wanted her name withheld said she was sympathetic to the homeowner, because scofflaw dog walkers and owners littering poop bags is “rampant.” But she couldn’t help but agree with Long.
“It is funny with all the things going on that this is the issue,” she said.