Naked woman seen in dumpster enclosure spurs garbage complaint

There can be interesting things to see when taking the garbage out to a dumpster, including signs of wildlife, but a naked woman using the ground as a bathroom probably isn’t one of them.

That’s what happened to a local attorney at 1401 Eighth Ave. W., according to an email to the city from the building’s owner, Jay Taylor, of Old Florida Investments.

“One of the principles in the law firm that leases from us took out the garbage for the clerical staff, opened the doors to the dumpster only to be confronted with a naked woman in the process of going to the bathroom, not a pretty sight,” Taylor said in the email.

Taylor said he has since replaced the old enclosure with a newer, smaller one where there is no more room for the homeless to take shelter. But that has apparently not sat well with the city’s solid waste department, and in turn, code enforcement. The city refuses to place the dumpster into the new enclosure, and code enforcement cited Taylor for the new enclosure.

Taylor said he was told it’s because the driver feels it is too small of a space, although the dumpster will fit. So the dumpster continues to sit out in front of the enclosure. And that’s making matters worse.

“I have a dumpster sitting out in the parking lot, which is not good for neighbors, not good for business and it’s created a hotel for the homeless,” Taylor said. “If you go behind the dumpster, you can see two boxes where they are sleeping and see where they have been going to the bathroom.”

Taylor says he has had to invest money into “fortifying” areas of his business with chain-link fence and had to remove landscaping features he already paid for to make his building less inviting. He is asking the city to have the required dumpster for a business removed and wants to convert to trash cans, given the limited amount of trash generated from his law firm renters.

Taylor welcomed the opportunity to address the topic at a recent code enforcement hearing, but it was canceled for a lack of quorum.

“If I lose my tenants because of the lack of control of the homeless and the intransigence of the city bureaucracy to work with and help the property owners downtown, I hope the city wants to rent some office space,” Taylor said.

Vice Mayor Patrick Roff, in a response to Taylor, said he favors roll-out trash bins, but public works is “reluctant” to do so. In the meantime, Roff said he “thought we came to an acceptable solution,” with code enforcement that the new dumpster enclosure is not in violation of any code and thought the matter was resolved.

It’s not, insists Taylor and Roff said he is equally frustrated that it continues.

The law firm was recently expected to sign a five-year lease renewal, but would only agree to two years given the homeless situation and now wants Taylor to remove even more landscaping from the perimeter.

“I’ve done everything we can,” Taylor said. “I’ve worked with the police department and their crime prevention officer and did everything they recommended and then some. And keep in mind that everything I try to do something to help the homeless situation, it’s another $500 permit fee to boot. And I’m not getting the protection from the city that I should.”

Taylor said he bought the building as a long-term investment, but would never do it again and “certainly not with the lack of support I’ve gotten from the city. In Palmetto, you get an immediate response, but in Bradenton, ‘It’s our rules and you live by them.’”

Roff suggested Taylor contact the remaining council members and bring the issue up at a city meeting in the near future.

“I’m going to do just that,” Taylor said, “but I’d rather get something done now rather than later.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Naked woman seen in dumpster enclosure spurs garbage complaint."