Why aren't people eating the fruits from their trees?

Ok, broader question than that actually...

We moved from Austin, TX to Seattle last January and we've been amazed by how much fruit trees, berry bushes, and vegetables people grow in their gardens and on the easements. On our street alone, I've seen artichokes, tomatoes, quince, pears, apples, persimmons, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, broccoli, beans, cherries, plums, and more. And yet, I see all these go to waste - the fruits fall to the ground and the vegetables rot on their stems.

Similarly, we went to Discovery Park and the blackberry bushes are everywhere, I was super excited about it, used to go pick blackberries when I was a kid, but I was surprised that most bushes were full of rotten/dried fruits...

Why aren't people eating their fruits and vegetables? Why aren't the blackberries picked?

[Edit: typos] [Edit 2: I posted this on my lunch break and coming back after work... did not expect 200 comments!! reading through everything, apologies if I'm slow to answer/comment and thank you for all the thoughtful responses!]