$800,000 San Diego Taxpayer Dollars to Clean Up 500 Tons Of Illegally Dumped Trash

It is always heartening to hear about our city focussing on Cleaning San Diego as part of our Clean SD initiative. Apparently fed up people complained enough and that with an outbreak of Hepatitis A, Mayor Kevin Faulconer really did something aside from upping the fine for illegal dumping to $1000! According to the San Diego Gov websites, there are over 25,000 reports of illegal dumping, littering, scavenging and waste-related violations in the City of San Diego.

This month, April 2018, the city announced that it has cleaned over 500 tons of trash. (KPBS) Cost of this Extra clean up $800,000.00 Taxpayer Dollars.

Launched in May 2017, the “Clean SD” initiative includes City and Urban Corps crews that respond to complaints received through the City’s Get It Done application, and remove litter in “hotspots” in Ocean Beach, City Heights, San Ysidro, Logan Heights, Paradise Hills, Webster & Mount Hope, Mission Beach, Point Loma and Pacific Beach — neighborhoods with a historically high level of illegal dumping activity. Crews have already removed more than 1,000 tons of debris, including:

• 470 tires
• 3150 mattresses and box springs
• 1200 shopping carts
• 170 appliances
• 98 tons of waste from the San Diego River
• 29 tons of waste from Chollas Creek

They also:

• Organized community cleanups that collected more than 100 tons of waste and debris from San Diego neighborhoods in 2017
• Held the City’s annual cleanup event at SDCCU Stadium – with more than 100 tons of waste and recyclables collected in single day. 
• Participates in Almost Free Mattress Recycling ByeBye Mattress 

San Diego (Press Release)– Continuing with his aggressive “Clean SD” initiative to remove trash and debris from public areas, Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer announced that crews have cleared all of the City-owned property along the San Diego River at least once and the City will work proactively with other adjacent property owners to clean up the remaining portions of the riverbed.

The City owns about one-third of the property along the San Diego River and has removed nearly 99 tons of waste from 32 locations since September, 2017. 

The City sent letters to each of the 33 private property owners who combined own approximately one-third of the property along the river, offering one-time cleanup assistance. Land along the remaining one-third of the river is owned by government agencies and a nonprofit, including MTS, CalTrans, San Diego River Park Foundation, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, U.S. Postal Service and the County of San Diego. 

So far, eight private property owners have taken advantage of the offer to have the City clean their property. Those who do not, are required to clean it themselves or they will be cited, which could result in fines ranging from $100 to $1,000.

Some Illegal Dumpers in San Diego

• Walgreens to Pay $16.57M for Illegal Dumping of Waste (NBC)
• San Marcos-based provider of portable outhouses faces possible prison time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines following his guilty plea to charges related to unlawful disposal of wastewater throughout Southern California, authorities said Friday. (Times of San Diego)
• We’re at the 40 percent reduction in trash removed from San Diego’s water sources compared to our average,” said Quigley-Raymond. “Usually, we remove about 70,000 pounds of garbage from the water shed every six months, now were down to about 40,000 pounds of trash, so it’s a huge difference.2013  (Source)
• Neighbors say San Carlos park now a dumping ground (2016)
• Bad Lumber Dumped in Fiesta Island
• Illegally dumped Furniture in Alley
• Messy Mystery: Who keeps dumping trash in this neighborhood?

Other Resources 

San Diego Experiencing Rise of Human Feces 

862,920 gallons of raw sewage spilled, which drains into the San Diego River, which drains into the Pacific Ocean near Ocean Beach. (Voice of San Diego)