The Los Angeles City Council on Friday, Oct. 25, approved a motion intended to identify funding sources for investigations into unlawful dumping activities.
The City Council voted 10-0 to instruct the Bureau of Sanitation and Environment and the city administrative office to report on the resources needed that would allow the sanitation’s Watershed Protection Division to resume illegal dumping investigations. City Council members John Lee and Katy Yaroslavsky introduced the motion on Oct. 1.
Council members Bob Blumenfield, Paul Krekorian, Nithya Raman, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Yaroslavsky were absent during the vote.
According to the motion, some businesses and residents are choosing to “illegally dump” garbage, debris and other harmful substances on streets and sidewalks.
Volunteer Cleaning Communities (VCC) holds regular cleanup events in the San Fernando Valley. Granada Hills CA, Saturday, July 13, 2024 The group works near 118 Freeway and Balboa Ave., picking up the trash.(Photo by Gene Blevins, Contributing Photographer)
“Illegal dumping is a major contributor to urban blight, but the impact on local communities does not stop there,” the motion reads. “Illegal dumping also creates serious public safety hazards, public health risks and environmental damage.”
Lee noted that in his 12th District, encompassing northwest San Fernando Valley neighborhoods, his office recently saw an “egregious example” located on the dead-end side of the road off the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway De Soto offramp, where parts of toilets, nails, wood and other construction debris littered the area.
He reported that it took two days for LASAN to remove the nearly 22 tons of debris.
Lee aims to identify funding to empower LASAN to conduct the investigations. Lee recognized in his motion that in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget the unit was “not provided the required funding to ensure cases of illegal dumping are investigated.”
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Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council approved the FY 2024-25 budget in June, which decreased sanitation’s operational budget by about $15.1 million, according to figures from the L.A. City Controller’s office.
Elected officials previously defended the budget, which increased the Los Angeles Police Department’s operational budget by about $126 million, citing public safety concerns.
Other departments that saw their operational budgets cut include transportation, engineering, animal services, cultural affairs, street lighting, public works, general services and fire, among others.
The council’s more progressive bloc — Eunisses Hernandez, Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martinez — voted against the budget.