Calling illegal dumping a scourge on city neighborhoods, City Attorney Mike Feuer unveiled today a new strike force to end the practice in Los Angeles.
“Whether it’s toxic waste dumped into a waterway or old furniture cast aside in an alley, illegal dumping blights our neighborhoods and threatens our families’ health and safety,” said Feuer. “Our new multi-jurisdictional strike force will aggressively go after violators and clean up communities that deserve better.”
The Task Force will focus on combatting illegal dumping by identifying chronic dumping hot-spots throughout Los Angeles, analyzing the sites, gathering information from community members, conducting joint inspections, prosecuting violators and cleaning-up the sites. The Task Force includes the City’s Bureau of Sanitation, Bureau of Watershed Protection, Bureau of Street Services, LAPD, Port Police, Building and Safety, Housing Authority, County Fire Health Hazmat, State Regional Water Quality Control Board, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and Los Angeles City Council Offices in Districts 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, and 15.
Feuer also announced that the work of the Task Force has already produced results and he is filing criminal charges in two cases as a result of two separate alleged illegal dumping incidents in Wilmington. Anthony Menes, 56 was charged with three counts of illegal dumping after Port Police received a tip that he had allegedly unloaded 3-4 television frames and components in front of a business on October 31 2014. Jaime Sosa Guerra, 39, Manuel Velasquez, 46, and George Filander, 62, were each charged with two counts of illegal dumping after Port Police observed the trio allegedly unloading wood pallets, plastic engine parts, lumber and plastic chairs from an unmarked truck onto an existing pile of discarded rubbish on October 30, 2014. Each defendant could face up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines for each count. Arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 3, 2014.
“The Department of Public Works, through its Bureaus of Sanitation and Street Services, is committed to creating a more livable and safe city,” said Kevin James, President of the Board of Public Works. “The City Attorney’s Illegal Dumping Task Force will help improve the quality of life throughout Los Angeles. We look forward to working with the City and County agencies who are part of this important partnership.”
In the next 30 days, targeted teams from the Task Force will focus on the hot spots by surveying the locations and developing an enforcement strategy which will include submitting cases to the City Attorney for prosecution. The City Attorney will set up a portal with the City’s 311 call center to track incoming dumping complaints and seek up-dates from Task Force members regarding responses. The Bureau of Sanitation will clean the targeted locations with
funding established by the City’s Clean Streets initiative.
The public is encouraged to help by calling MyLA 311 the City’s toll-free information & non-emergency services line (3-1-1) and make a report or download their app on their smartphone and submit a service request for dumping that has already occurred. To report illegal dumping in progress between 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., the public can call the Bureau of Street Services Enforcement Division at (213) 847-6000, after hours call (877) ASK-LAPD.
