Can you imagine what these people's houses look like? I shudder at the thought. Besides being irresponsible slobs, people who do these kinds of things have a sense of entitlement that's way off the scales. It's someone else's responsibility to clean up after them. Sad.

All it takes is bringing a few garbage bags with you.

This is obvious that is how they live. Maybe if there is a charge to use the park, your problem will be solved. But with today's society I doubt it.

Same problem at and around Burgess.

Especially around the skate park. It looks like a dump at times. People really do not care. Especially if it's not their neighborhood.

Lots of holier than thou comments here. At least they put the trash in/on the bins, so cut them some slack as it could have been worse. These trash receptacles are at the softball field, and this is probably the result of an evening or day of games. Perhaps this is an indication that the problem is that there are not enough trash receptacles at this location, and I doubt it says anything about how these people live, what their homes are like, etc.

I live in this neighborhood. There's always dog waste on the fenced walking path between Little House and Roble Ave. I frequently find dog/cat waste in our front yard. The Nealon Park playground's wood chips are completely littered with trash that parents don't bother to clean up after their children drop it. Our yard waste bin often has bags of dog waste and clearly non-compostable trash stuffed into it. For a few weeks during this past winter, the sidewalks along Menlo Ave. near the Trader Joe's (near the farmer's market site) were frequently littered with large quantities of dog waste. That public littering and dog feces bothers me. This pile in a public trash bin does not compare.

And shelters are conveniently located where??

This is neatly placed on the too-small trash receptacles, not strewn about. Lots of groups & individuals use this park. Install larger waste & recycle receptacles or arrange to empty more frequently.

This is not a display of gross bad manners but leaving animal waste around town is.

I am glad I stirred up the discussion, but there is no need to attack the individuals, or to compare this incident to others where people could have been more responsible. Yes, more cans, more frequent emptying could help. And yes, one person's ranking on the mess scale may be different than another's. Regardless, we should all leave public places as clean as we found them, or cleaner.

It's simple. If there's no room in the garbage cans take YOUR garbage with you and dispose of it elsewhere. It's called taking responsibility.

The large groups actually pay to reseve the picnic areas and that should include garbage collection. Perhaps the City needs to provide garbage pick up at the sites on the weekends and clean up the areas after public use. It shouldn't have to wait till Monday. Pretty weird to see people complaining about folks using the garbage cans for um, waste. Pet waste, picnic waste, whatever. If the cans are overflowing, then it's a problem with City service and garbage removal, not the folks who are enjoying an afternoon at the park - and paying City fees to do so. Web Link

picnic:

when the garbage can is overflowing in your kitchen do you just stack the garbage on top or do you empty it to another receptacle? Yes, the city should provide more cans or perhaps they had a bigger than normal crowd. Rather than act like entitled a**es, responsible people say, "gee there's no room in the cans. I guess we'll have to dispose of our garbage someplace else where animals won't spread it all over hell and gone." It's called taking personally responsibility.

After taking care of one's garbage, one could then call the city and let them know that it would be a good idea to add more receptacles so people that wouldn't have to take their trash home with them. Which is what responsible, non-self entitled people do.

Were the trash cans emptied a few hrs. after the game? If the trash isn't collected daily in Menlo Park parks, residents can always call the number that is on the side of the cans, or get more cans in city parks in the first place.

"These people" are your neighbors.