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So long as they are able to insure that the fallen fruit doesn't become a slip and fall hazard this sounds like a wonderful project.

It seems odd that "her efforts were repeatedly thwarted by [...] San Francisco nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest", as that sounds like the type of organization that would support such an effort.

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My impression, although I don't live there, is that San Francisco has a fair number of homeless people. Surely they might be recruited to pick and dispose of ripe fruit before it becomes a hazard? In those locales that require refundable container deposits for the purchase of beverages, the homeless contribute a great deal to the fact that such refuse is absent from most streets. A piece of ripe fruit is surely worth more than 5¢.

In my neighborhood, the homeless root through everyones' garbage and recycling bins in search of redeemable cans. In the process they scatter trash everywhere. It more than counteracts any litter they might also pick up.

Presumably this issue would not arise when picking fruit from trees?

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