I think maybe you're paying attention to the wrong part of that story. It's not the act of putting out the Buddha statue; it's the continuous care that a community of people put around the Buddha. The neighbor that plonked down the statue just contributed a statue. The community of Buddhists who adopted it, brought flowers, cleaned and improved the area are all doing exactly what the grandparent comment described.

It's ineffective and woo, but come on. Disrespectful?

Can we get over this hyper-upper-class take on everything for lower class problems? When it gets vandalized, that's disrespectful, I guess, but putting it there is merely stupid.

No, using religious icons to facilitate waste management is disrespectful, full stop.

Thank you for this link.