Picking up abandoned couches, mattresses, washing machines, sometimes even human feces and syringes, might not be a fun job, but Luis Hurtado views it as a way to give back to the city where he grew up.
“I'm here for a purpose,” he says.
In 2014, Hurtado was the first full-time employee hired by Los Angeles City Councilmember Nury Martinez to form a team dedicated to pulling abandoned bulky items and trash from streets and sidewalks. The team just expanded to two full-time staffers, and Martinez announced Friday that she’s launching a campaign to encourage residents to use the city’s 311 phone line and MyLA311 app to report illegal dumping.
“Communities in the Northeast San Fernando Valley have long suffered from a lack of services and attention,” Martinez says. “It isn’t fair that other more affluent communities are better maintained while communities suffer from so much illegal dumping and trash in our streets.”
The campaign is specifically targeted to her district, which covers North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Arleta, Panorama City, and Sun Valley, but the message could be applied across many other parts of the city of Los Angeles, as sanitation workers pick up more and more
In June, the mayor’s office reported that the Bureau of Sanitation had collected an average of 228.2 tons of illegally dumped items every week between January and April, up more than 9 percent from the same period last year. Since that report, the amount the bureau has collected has skyrocketed, nearly tripling in August, with 2,195 tons collected that month.
The LA City Council then approved a motion in June introduced by council members in response to the report that will use $150,000 to hire homeless and formerly homeless individuals to collect trash and debris, an effort to address illegal dumping.
As part of her campaign, Martinez is putting ads bus benches and shelters to encourage residents to use the 311 to report illegal dumping. Last week, she introduced a motion to have permanent 311 signs in her district in addition to the ads.
“I want the city to put resources into my district to make everyone aware that this program exists and that there’s no excuse to not be able to report illegal dumping in the area,” Martinez says.
Most of the city’s 15 council offices either have a contractor or a staff member who clean the streets. Martinez was the first to put together a street cleaning team, according to Heather Johnson, a spokesperson for LA Sanitation.
Since January, the “Clean Sweep Team” has picked up 50 tons of trash in the sixth council district.
The team was aided Friday by about 30 volunteers who picked up trash in Van Nuys, where streets were littered with abandoned couches, plastic cups, candy wrappers, a baby booster, and old rags.
Severiana Pablo, a volunteer from Van Nuys, tagged along with city staffers. Donning plastic gloves and a mouth cover, she helped sweep the streets with a broom with a pink handle. Cleaning the streets is important, she says, as she swept debris out of a drain, “because it goes to the ocean.”
Comments
Not everyone has time or can be bothered to report graffiti, illegally dumped furniture, and trash, but it really does get taken care of, at least on your one designated pickup day of the week (graffiti usually gets removed within a day in my NELA neighborhood, even on the weekend).
By metro1 on 09.23.19 9:47am
Everyone doesn’t have to, just takes one person to call and report.
By AboveAverageMillennial on 09.23.19 10:03am
Use the My311 app.
I report a half-dozen "illegal dumpings"every week.
It works remarkably well, much better than calling the city. There is "paper" trail, some accountability, unlike the other reporting methods. I do most of my reports on Sunday night for Monday pickup, where the old call-in system required entry on Friday.
It COULD work just as well for homeless encampments and their garbage, but your mayor and his allies clearly want us to suffer and surrender our sovereignty, so they continue their non-defense of the public hiding behind the very convenient and creative lie that Jones and Martin prevent them from clearing the sidewalks.
By smartalex on 09.23.19 10:11am
Agreed. I use the my311 app to reported illegal dumping as well, because you can upload photos so it’s easier for the sanitation team to find it.
By curbedmo on 09.23.19 12:39pm
If it does, it’s because one of your neighbors reported it either via the my311 app or the phone line.
By curbedmo on 09.23.19 12:38pm
The reason why dumping has become such a problem is that the City is allowing homeless encampments all day every day (against the law as people are only to camp at night by law and even that may change). People see these piles of trash and encampments with nothing done about them and then Recycle LA, which was created by these same LA Councilmen and Councilwomen has sent trash hauling rates through the roof and businesses and others are rebelling.
Businesses see these encampments and trash piles right outside their businesses with nothing done and their own trash hauling rates skyrocket so they are cancelling their trash pickup and just dumping it into the City. Can’t really blame them.
By LA Denizen on 09.23.19 9:54am
"Businesses see these encampments and trash piles right outside their businesses with nothing done and their own trash hauling rates skyrocket so they are cancelling their trash pickup and just dumping it into the City. Can’t really blame them."
I feel like you can absolutely blame business looking for a way to avoid paying legitimate expenses to haul their garbage, which have been artificially low for decades, by somehow making it actually the fault of homeless people. That’s fucking low, man.
By Greyvagabond on 09.23.19 11:37am
"legitimate expenses to haul their garbage, which has been artificially low for decades"
Wrong. The rates increased for two reasons. First, the city created a monopoly by carving up the city into zones and giving the trash companies exclusive rights in those zones. Second, the city increased the allowable monthly rates and fees to subsidize providing recycle bins to every property and so the private trash companies could upgrade their trucks to clean emissions vehicles (i.e. corporate welfare). This, of course, benefited wealthy homeowners whose single family residences are serviced by the city. And the kicker is that China stopped buying a lot of recyclables so much of what you put in your recycle bin does not end up getting recycled anyway.
The RecycLA was a huge scam (typical of Garcetti and Bonin) and I don’t blame anyone for trying to avoid extortionary trash collection rates and fees.
By LADude on 09.23.19 11:41am
Businesses previously contracted with private companies to haul their trash. It was the definition of market rates. The City then started Recycle LA, which is a monopoly and rates soared so no rates were not artificially low for decades.
By LA Denizen on 09.23.19 11:53am
When the city is basically a giant garbage dump anyway, why would anyone take the time or money to properly dispose of trash. And how many full time employees, with high salaries, pensions and benefits, do we need to hire to deal with this…because they are basically doing what the 311 app and sanitation department already do.
By LADude on 09.23.19 11:45am
That’s the spirit fellow citizen.
By LosFeliz$ean on 09.23.19 3:53pm
I would tell Nury Martinez that "affluent" areas of Los Angeles aren’t clean because they get improved services and attention, it’s because their residents aren’t busy sabotaging their own neighborhoods with trash, graffiti, illegal dumping, etc.
Residents need to be involved by reporting problems, banging the door of their representatives. That’s how it works. It’s not a secret.
By Cleavon Little on 09.23.19 11:47am
Sad but true. I wonder if people, especially renters, don’t know that your regular trash service will pick up bulky items for free. So yes, people can leave old furniture on the curb, but schedule a pick-up for god’s sake.
By curbedmo on 09.23.19 12:45pm
I agree completely. Dumping trash wherever it’s easy is common in poorer neighborhoods although it goes on in other areas too. I have property in a pretty nice area in the miracle mile where homes and duplexes are selling anywhere from $1.7 to $2.5 million on average and you still get some dumping in some of the alleys. Some is idiot homeowners who think that the trash will magically get picked up by the trash service and other dumping is from gardeners and other workers driving through the area and getting rid of trash to avoid dumping fees at the actual dump or not wanting to be bothered to get rid of it properly (they think no one sees them doing this in the alley).
The reality is many parts of LA are populated with people who grew up in third world-ish countries where proper trash disposal wasn’t so normal. It was normal to just dump your garbage or trash down a hillside or whatever. They bring that mentality to our city. Really there needs to be a major campaign in LA that really educates people that it isn’t cool to litter. I’ve seen women change diapers in the back seat of the car and just throw the dirty diaper in the curb so many times I can’t count. It’s really gross.
By LAoneWay on 09.23.19 1:30pm
Please don’t blame the "3rd world". Littering is a problem up and down the economic spectrum.
By Brentwood 4 Life on 09.23.19 3:30pm
Let’s forget the pc spin on things and be honest about things. you know darn well poorer neighborhoods, poorer countries have much worse issues with liter and improper trash disposal. Compare Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, Norway, England, Germany to India, Mexico, most of Africa etc.
By LAoneWay on 09.23.19 8:57pm
This doesn’t happen in the Bay Area. Just saying.
By MartyinLA on 09.25.19 11:26am
I’m having a hard time differentiating between what is considered "illegal dumping" versus "someone else’s possessions." Is it based on how it got there?
Example: a pile of garbage on the sidewalk.
Response 1: if it was placed there by a homeless person, it is legally someones possessions and cannot be removed.
Response 2: if it was placed there by a non-homeless person, it is illegal dumping.
Do I have that right?
By Cleavon Little on 09.23.19 11:56am
Swish! Nailed it.
By disqusted on 09.23.19 4:33pm
The solution to illegal dumping is not reporting and cleanup. The solution is aggressive enforcement and prosecution of anti-dumping laws.
By TopWeinerDog on 09.23.19 12:09pm
Amen. It’s time for Parking Enforcement-type efficiency and coverage when it comes to litter and illegal dumping. Time for a police state.
By Brentwood 4 Life on 09.23.19 3:34pm
When I bought a mattress, IKEA automatically added the $10 "recycling fee" to the receipt.
I heard you also have to pay this $10 fee for each foundation and bed you buy.
I wanted to post a message about my previous mattress, which was in perfect condition, in the free section on Craigslist. But then I put it in the plastic bag, took outside on Saturday, and it was gone on Sunday.
By Ivan III on 09.23.19 12:55pm
You want to see dumping – head to the Home Depot in Playa Vista and check out the parking lot! From customers to day laborers they dump everything and it is disgusting.
By MrCG on 09.23.19 4:39pm
California has become pig city.
By Nita Hiltner on 09.23.19 6:17pm
No, this is an LA thing. You won’t see this in the Bay Area or anywhere else for that matter.
By MartyinLA on 09.25.19 11:27am