101 N Street, NW
Update from DPW: “A DPW crew has serviced this trash can to support cleanliness and safety for nearby residents. We are working with our agency partners to ensure consistent long-term management of these cans.”
“Dear PoPville,
I read your post about a public trashcan that no DC agency wants to take responsibility for and I thought to myself “Did I accidentally black out and email PoPville??”
I’m a first-term ANC Commissioner in Truxton Circle, representing a district centered around Dunbar High School. There is a pair of trashcans that are along the public right-of-way in front of the athletic field that were installed by, and are supposed to be maintained by, Dunbar HS. Because the cans are publicly accessible, they are regularly used by neighbors as well as Dunbar students and visitors. The Dunbar custodial staff (which may be Department of General Services [and not DCPS] employees, it’s not entirely clear to me), basically do not believe they need to take responsibility for these cans because neighbors use these as public trash cans. As a result, the trash cans are, on a near-weekly basis, overflowing with trash. Check out the attached email (see below) for an example of the response I’ve gotten. At one point the custodial staff told me I should hold a community meeting to encourage neighbors to stop using the trashcans!
The crazy thing is I’m actually very sympathetic to the notion that Dunbar shouldn’t be the entity responsible for these.
They are well-used by the community, especially dog walkers, and there are already DPW-maintained cans located both 250 feet east and west of these cans on N Street, meaning that these cans are literally on the overnight route DPW already runs. So naturally I reached out to DPW to see if they’d take over maintenance of these cans. Let me just say that DPW seems to have resolved to never deploy a new public trash can anywhere in the District ever again. First, DPW explained that the Dunbar cans are “Victor Stanley 35s” whereas DPW uses “Victor Stanly 42s”—I’ll note that these cans are designed in exactly the same manner, the 35s just have a marginally smaller volume than the 42s. I then suggested I could have DCPS uninstall their cans to have DPW install some of theirs, but of course DPW “has no cans in our inventory” (a refrain I’ve heard from DPW since I took on the role in 2025).
OK, so if DCPS doesn’t like to maintain them, and DPW doesn’t want to maintain them, why not just uninstall them? Well, that would be the responsibility of the Department of General Services. And as any ANC or DC employee will tell you, I’ve never encountered an issue that the Department of General Services didn’t fail to resolve.
So here we have it. DCPS won’t maintain the cans. DGS won’t remove the cans. And DPW won’t take over the cans. So instead, they sit there filling up with dog poop until I send a complaint.
I’ve tried reaching out to the Council, including giving testimony (while I was on vacation!) at the February 2026 DPW Performance Oversight hearing (also attached, see page 3). But I cannot seem to get anyone in DPW to care about this enough to do the logical thing and take over maintenance of these cans. Instead of caring about the sanitation and sightliness of our neighborhood, I’ve got three DC agencies each explaining to me why it’s not their problem. I genuinely hate putting these agencies on blast—I’m someone who likes to try to resolve issues through the system—but this has been going on for almost a year. Help me, PoPville (and Councilmember Nadeau)!”
Email referenced above:
“I want to formally address the ongoing concerns regarding the trash bins located outside of Dunbar Stadium and in front of the school.
To be clear, these bins are not being used by DCPS staff or DCPS students. The primary use is by surrounding community members—specifically for the disposal of dog feces. This misuse has directly contributed to rodent activity and continues to create unsanitary conditions on school property.
In addition, community members are consistently walking their dogs on DCPS grounds, including grass, bushes, and mulch areas, which further increases sanitation and rodent concerns. This has been an ongoing issue since my arrival at Dunbar and has significantly worsened over the last two to three years.
At this time, I am actively working with DGS to have the trash bins removed from in front of the stadium and school due to continued misuse. The bins were previously covered and netted to prevent access, yet the community continues placing trash inside them despite these efforts.
I want to be clear:
I do not need guidance on trash pickup scheduling. My team has taken appropriate and reasonable steps within our scope. Unfortunately, the continued misuse by the community is beyond DCPS control.
Until DGS completes the removal of these bins, I strongly recommend that a community meeting be held to address this issue directly and encourage residents to properly dispose of pet waste elsewhere rather than on DCPS property. This would be a constructive step toward reducing the recurring concerns and emails regarding this matter.
I will continue working with DGS until the trash cans are fully removed. DCPS has taken all reasonable corrective actions within its authority.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Have a blessed day.”