Three stickers here.

Three more stickers.

There were five along here, but my wife peeled one up before I could take the photo. This sort of mess should be cleaned up by the organizers, and not left to us.

Without this one, the poor joggers were in danger of turning right and running into the duck pond.
And, there were three more after that one... Seriously?!?

It's been over six weeks since these vandals left their stickers all over the park. I understand the park and city has better things to do than clean up these stickers, but it would be nice if they were banned from use in our city.

The company that makes the stickers ( https://www.routearrows.com/ )charges $.30 for each sticker, and they encourage people to put down _five_ stickers at every turn. They easily made at least $15-$20 by encouraging vandalism of public property.

They claim it's 'biodegradable,' but there's still evidence of stickers that are over two months old. (The orange stickers were the first wave.) It creates a public eyesore.

Whatever happened to good old chalk markers? It's cheaper, and a lot more environmentally friendly than this commercial grafitti.

I should mention that I have no complaints with the park department.

They do a great job, and already have their hands full.

My complaint is with the company: https://www.routearrows.com/

Just a follow up.

Almost three months later, and they're still all over the park. (See photo.)

Here is part of the response from their sales rep:
(I like how they tried to blame ARPD for the stickers.)
-----------------
Fortunately, they will disintegrate into harmless bits over a short time, or when the first rains arrive, if not before.
FYI, There were two customers that purchased Green RouteArrows in Alameda in the last few weeks and one of them was the Alameda Recreation and Park District.
All the best,

Randall Braun
RouteArrows.com
----------------------------

I just got another reminder from SeeClickFix that it's been three months since I opened this complaint, so I'll close it now.

Here's a final photo showing that the stickers are still a nuisance, and have not 'disintegrated into harmless bits' - even after four months and several hard rains.

If anyone else would like to thank RouteArrows.com for their contribution to our city, please let them know at: https://www.routearrows.com/contact-us/

Thanks for your attention,
Erik Flom

Erik--I reopened this because the city of Alameda is buying these, and we have not heard that the city will stop, and clean up the ones that are still there. I want to know what the city plans to do.
At your suggestion, I complained to route arrows via email. Her is what I wrote:
RouteArrows:
Your arrows are all over Alameda, CA 94501. Several Alameda residents are complaining about you on SeeClickFix. Your arrows do not just degrade and go away on their own. Would you please send someone to Alameda to collect your garbage arrows? Also, would you please stop selling these arrows to race organizers for use in Alameda? This is a continuing problem. KT

Just got a reminder about this complaint.

After at least five months - and a bunch of storms - I can still see residue of these stickers all along the route.

Kudos to http://www.routearrows.com for charging people to deface our public property...

Kudos to http://www.routearrows.com for charging people to deface our public property...

Good!

Not to beat a dead horse, but...

I just got a reminder that I posted this 241 days ago.

Even now, there is still the ghost of a sticker right near the Crab Cove Visitor's center.

"It'll wash away" they said...

The company that makes them recommends that they be removed manually after the event if not in a high traffic area. The event organizers need to be required to remove them or pay to have the city remove them. I have seen that they will stay on bike paths for months after an event.

Can I use RouteArrows on paved trails and Bike Paths?
Yes! But we strongly recommend removal of RouteArrows and/or RouteLines from off-street bike paths, trails or sidewalks right after your cycling event or running event. Without traffic to wear them away, they can last for months and are seen as litter.

Hello Alameda--How about having them responsible city employee respond? Who is the city employee in charge of approving these stickers?

This issue was recategorized from Recreation & Parks - Parks Maintenance to Recreation & Parks - Recreation.

Park Maintenance Supervisor assigned this issue to Patrick R.M. ARPD 6

Hello,
The stickers were part of the Bike for the Parks event run by a volunteer group to benefit the community under the Friends of the Park Foundation. Recreation staff did remove many of the stickers but clearly not all of the stickers. As we plan next year's event more discussion will take place on whether to use the stickers again or come up with another method. Your comments will definitely be brought to the next committee so that a better plan can be made to avoid this complication again. Thank you for your input and sorry that it took so long to get a response as I just receive this assignment today.

Patrick:

Thanks for responding.

There were two separate events that used the stickers. The first one used bright orange, and the second used bright green. There were far fewer orange stickers, and there weren't many left over. Whoever put down the green stickers didn't do anything to remove them.

Given the cost of these stickers, it seems like chalk is a far cheaper solution - that can be easily hosed clean.

Once again, Bike for the Parks has left stickers all over the park that they claim to love so much.

https://alamedaca.gov/recreation-uncategorized/events/5718

Again, they left dozens of these stickers all over the place, and - as of Monday Oct. 2, 2018, _none_ have been removed.

I have left a complaint on their Facebook page, and will be reporting them to the park dept. Maybe they should forfeit their deposit if they're not willing to clean up after themselves.

Hello,
Staff is working this week to remove the green stickers that were placed for the Bike for the Parks event. Please give me some time to arrange the removal of the stickers.

Pat Russi
Recreation Manager

Hi, Pat. Thanks for the prompt reply.

So, for a non-profit event, how many employee hours are spent cleaning up this mess?

$.30/sticker?

Thanks again.

BTW, I notice that you charged $20/child, and $45/Adult for this event.

Where is this money going?
(Obviously not improving the park for locals.)

I'll close this issue by thanking the people involved for packing their trash.
Almost all of the stickers were removed within two weeks.
There is one remaining sticker, right near the Crab Cove Visitor's Center, and this is what it looks like after two months.

Just for comparison, this large chalk marker for a later event washed away within three weeks:

"User is not authorized to comment on this issue."

?!?

I had to re-open the issue to post the last photo.
Issue is now closed. :)