Fed-up locals are setting electric scooters on fire and burying them at sea

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“They’ve been crammed into toilets, tossed off balconies and set on fire. They’ve even been adorned with dangling bags of dog droppings.

As cities like Santa Monica and Beverly Hills struggle to control a rapid proliferation of electric pay-per-minute scooters, some residents are taking matters into their own hands and waging a guerrilla war against the devices. These vandals are destroying or desecrating the vehicles in disturbingly imaginative ways, and celebrating their illegal deeds on social media — in full view of authorities and the public.

‘They throw them everywhere: in the ocean, in the sand, in the trash can,’ said Robert Johnson Bey, a Venice Beach maintenance worker who regularly comes across scooter parts on the Venice Beach boardwalk, Speedway and adjoining alleys…

‘The city is already losing so much culture due to gentrification,’ Galedary said…The scooters’ abrupt arrival in Venice last fall was viewed by some as another example of how the tech industry was encroaching on the community without asking for permission. It didn’t help that Bird founder Travis VanderZanden — a former executive at Uber and Lyft — said the company wouldn’t be happy until there are ‘more Birds than cars.’

‘It’s a very urban environment,’ said architect Kelly Boston, a longtime Venice resident. ‘We’re all close together, we need to be respectful of one another’s space, and these make it harder.'”