Well in SF proper, I have not heard of any of the big stories about copper theft - not saying it doesn't happen though. (E.Bay different story...)
SF has also dealt with some of the most accessible copper some time ago - long before these more recent spats. Although not written in the code perse
ALL GEC's exposed at street level or property frontage have been deemed 'subject to physical damage' for ~15 years, and required to be in conduit. (Sometimes if rear or side of the building is accessible from the street too - ticks off out of town guys who find out the hard way...) From what I understand plumbing inspectors have also required simular encasement in some neighborhoods as well.
The thinking there is that they don't know whats in the pipe, and it's harder to cut... Seems to work???
They also can't steal it from your site if it's not there - maybe Chicago has the answer - don't pull until the job is buttoned up?
Either way, You and I will have less to worry about soon. 3rd Street and Pac Hell areas are being gentrified and all of the scrap yards and junk yards are being pushed out for condos and Stem-cell reasearch facilities - along with the lower end of the criminal spectrum that would do this sort of thing. (For those not familiar with the area - competition for scrap metal is at the shopping cart dwelling level here and far beneath the
live-in-a-building crowd. Bigger better things to steal for them.) And as this type of thing seems to center around isolated or vacant buildings we soon wont have many of those either...
I used to live and work near the Design Center right near where the BFI scrap facility was until 4-5 years ago before they got the boot. For a while there was no place nearby to take scrap metal or cans/bottles - all the
"trolls" stopped picking anything up for a while until another facility reopened further down 16th - otherwise it was too much effort to take it across a bridge, especially if you don't own a car. After realizing the need and success of that scrap joint, another opened on 3rd. Both are doomed to be leveled soon. The big scrap yards south of Bayshore are being rezoned out of existance as we speak. No place to sell it - why pick it up or steal it? After that the only nearby places to take it will be Oakland... (Soon to be $5 toll and gas money 30 miles and 1-2 hours depending on traffic...)
Or you need to take it to the dump and recycle it and might even have to pay to do so. 'SF Scavenger' our trash collection service contracted to the city actually subsidizes the recyling of all the other mandatory stuff by reselling scrap from dumpsters and general trash. Mandatory 80% construction debris recycling by decree from the city gets paid for by the money they DONT give out to 'scrappers'. They actually pay people to sort out debris dumpsters!!! So maybe after the scrap yards are gone my trash bill gets lower???
