Delaney Hall

And maybe the city could find a new design that worked better, was less vulnerable to trash picking, and maybe most importantly, was sturdier.

Because here's another thing that happens in San Francisco.

People attack the trash cans.

The policy adventure continues when we come back.

So after this experiment in the Mission District, you pivoted from adding cans to actually redesigning them.

What led to that decision?

The three custom trash can designs included the Salt and Pepper, which had a distinctive two-tiered shape with one section for bottles and cans and another for trash.

Then there was the Slim Silhouette, a narrow can with stainless steel bars on the outside to discourage graffiti.

And finally, there was the Soft Square, which featured curved panels and a foot pedal to open it.

The city also picked three off-the-shelf garbage can models to include in the testing.

And then they ran a two-and-a-half-month pilot, where they put out the six total models in 52 different locations across a broad range of neighborhoods.

Then they invited the public to test them out and rate them.

Eventually, thousands of people weighed in on the designs, and Rachel says they were mostly very thoughtful about it.

But there was criticism, too.

Some people were like, what are you doing, San Francisco Public Works?

Why does the public have to weigh in on garbage cans?

And then there was the cost of the prototypes.

And sure enough, it did end up on Fox News.

I'm curious because there was a lot of media focus on the cost rather than the design.

How did you and your colleagues actually explain to the public why those prototypes were so expensive?