DATE: September 16, 2024
TO: Council Sustainability Committee
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Expanding Litter Collection Efforts in Hayward – Discussion and Direction to Staff
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) reviews and comments on this report and provides direction to staff in determining areas outside of Downtown to conduct litter collection prior to the release of a request for proposals (RFP) for enhanced litter collection in Hayward
SUMMARY
The Strategic Roadmap for Fiscal Years 2024 to 2025+ includes the priority to Enhance Community Safety and Quality of Life, which lists Project NP2: Expand litter collection services (like the Downtown Streets Team) to pick up litter through the City. The Council-adopted FY 2024 budget includes a one-time allocation of $100,000 from the General Fund to implement Project NP2. Staff recommends releasing an RFP for completion of Projects Q15 to ensure the project cost-effectively addresses the high-priority areas of the City. Staff is seeking input from the CSC to select two areas of the City that should be targeted for extra litter collection efforts from four areas identified by staff.
BACKGROUND
The City allocates significant resources annually to remove litter throughout the community. Efforts include several full-time employees who spend the majority of their time removing dumped trash. Several more City employees are dedicated to street sweeping and cleaning storm drains. The City also sponsors weekend clean-up events, the annual clean-up day at Weekes Park, and the Adopt a Block Program. Altogether, the City spends more than $2 million per year on litter collection. This funding is in addition to the City’s Maintenance Services Department’s full-time positions dedicated to collecting litter.
Litter reduction has been discussed by Council, the CSC, the Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force, and the Council Budget and Finance Committee for several years. Summaries of some of those discussions held since 2015 were provided in a report to the CSC on July 8, 2019.
Two contractors currently serve Hayward by collecting litter and conducting beautification efforts: the Downtown Streets Team (DST) and the Downtown Hayward Improvement Association (DHIA). DST provides litter collection service in the Downtown area as well as along the Tennyson corridor. The DST also provides sorting assistance to attendees at some events held within the City, such as the Downtown Street Parties. The DHIA manages their contractor, District Works, to collect litter Downtown, and also provides graffiti abatement, pressure washing, and other cleaning services in the Downtown area.
The DST partners with cities throughout the Bay Area to provide housing insecure individuals with immediate volunteer opportunities to serve the community through work teams. The program’s primary goal is to provide work experience and job skills training to team members who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless and transition them to permanent employment. Since 2016, the DST has served Hayward by removing debris from Hayward’s streets, performing training, and offering employment services. This work has been funded primarily with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, and to a lesser extent, City Recycling Funds.
The DHIA is a special assessment district covering the majority of Downtown and manages the implementation of a wide range of cleaning services outlined in the district management plan that includes litter collection. The management plan started in April of 2018 and is set to expire in April of 2028. The services are paid for by a special assessment on properties within the district boundary.
DISCUSSION
In the fall of 2023, staff asked both the DST and the DHIA about their ability to enhance litter collection if provided with $50,000. Staff received informal proposals from the DST and the DHIA on how they could use the funds to temporarily expand their scope of services.
The DST currently collects litter in the Downtown area on Thursday and Friday from 8:00am-12:00pm within six service areas (sectors) depicted in Figure 1 below. DST also has a Tennyson team that currently removes debris on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8am-12pm along four service areas (or sectors) of the Tennyson corridor, as shown in Figure 2. DST proposed adding a new Downtown shift along Second Street shown in gray in Figure 1 on the south-east portion of the map. This new section would have a team remove debris on Thursdays and Fridays from 8:00am-12:00pm for six months.
Figure 1. Downtown Streets Team Current Downtown Service Areas, and Proposed New Sector 7 Figure 2. Downtown Streets Team, Current Tennyson Service Areas The DHIA proposed to enhance the current level of service it provides to the Downtown area seven days a week. The enhancements would include an additional 16 hours of service weekly in the downtown area for performing litter and graffiti abatement on the sidewalk entrances to municipal parking lots #1 and #2; additional evening coverage at a minimum two days per week; and litter abatement service around Newman Park, Heritage Park, and Children’s Park at Guiliani Plaza. DHIA proposes that these enhanced services can last for 8 months for the allotted $50,000.
The response received from each contractor did not entail collecting litter from an area other than Downtown and did not include much detail on the specific hours or services that would be offered. While moving forward with the current informal proposals from each contractor will meet the basic goal of Project Q15, the goal does state enhancing litter collection “through the City”.
The CSC reviewed a May 8, 2023, report on a data-based litter assessment study performed by litter data science company, Litterati. This report identified a few hot spots for litter in the City. At the March 11, 2024, CSC meeting the Committee expressed concerns about growing trash on Mission Boulevard and asked staff to strategize putting more trash and recycling bins along Mission Boulevard, especially near fast food restaurants.
While there are many areas of the Hayward that would benefit from enhanced litter collection, it is not possible for each area to be cleaned with the funding available. Staff analyzed hot spots highlighted in the Litterati report, reviewed the type of development in these areas, and considered the Committee’s most recent request to compile four suggested areas to potentially list in the RFP. Staff requests that the Committee provide feedback on the following list and any other areas that should be prioritized for enhanced litter collection.
The Jackson Triangle: Soto Road from Jackson Street to Harder Road.
South of the Jackson Triangle: Huntwood Avenue from Gading Road to Tennyson Road.
The Tennyson Road and Mission Blvd. area: Mission Blvd. from Hancock Street to Industrial Parkway. (includes Burger King, SoHay, and other higher-density housing) Mission Blvd. from Industrial Parkway to Corrine Street. (includes Sonic Drive-In, Jack-in -the Box, 7-Eleven).
Staff recommends releasing a formal RFP and requesting that responses include potential areas to collect litter other than Downtown as well as more specifics on what services would be performed. In addition, staff would like direction from the Committee on whether to split the funding between contractors or award the full $100,000 to one organization.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
No additional funding is requested. Cleaner public spaces can create a positive economic impact. Providing clean, pleasant areas for people to visit can increase the vitality of an area, and the potential of visitors patronizing local businesses. The removal of litter has the potential to benefit local businesses, especially retail, economically.
FISCAL IMPACT
The project will be funded from $100,000 already budgeted in the General Fund. It will also entail staff time from existing, budgeted positions to manage the contractors and review reports.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority of Cultivate Vibrant Neighborhoods. This item specifically relates to the following Project:
Invest in Cleanliness and Blight Reduction
Project NP2: Expand litter collection services (like the Downtown Streets Team) to pick up litter through the City.
This project is identified as one that has a racial equity focus and must be reviewed through a racial equity lens. The racial equity lens requires that we consider the following questions.
What problem is this service seeking to address?
Who benefits from this service? Are some community members impacted by the problem more than others? Do we have demographic information about this group(s)? How are we communicating about this service? What barriers are there for people to find up-to-date information? What racial, cultural, and/or ethnic groups experience disparities related to this program? How does this program benefit them or further exacerbate their disparities? To help answer the above questions, Table 1 includes demographic data for the four areas recommended by staff.
Table 1. Demographic Data
Census Tracts
Racial and Ethnic Diversity Index
Population Characteristics Percentile
Hispanic (%)
White (%)
African American (%)
Native American (%)
Asian American (%)
Other/ Multiple (%)
Jackson Triangle (Soto Road from Jackson Street to Harder Road) 4366.01
59.9%
78.9 55.5
12.8 6.7
0.0 15.1
9.9 4366.02
68.5%
85.5 48.5
10.4 13.7
0.0 24.2
3.2 Average
64.2%
82.2 52.0
11.6 10.2
0.0 19.7
6.5 South of Jackson Triangle (Huntwood Avenue from Gading Road to Tennyson Road) 4376
70.3%
73.0 42.8
13.1 6.1
0.0 34.3
3.8 4377.01
61.2%
91.6 59.1
9.3 12.9
1.4 15.1
2.2 4377.02
40.8%
93.2 75.8
4.7 6.5
0.2 10.2
2.5 Average
57.4%
85.9 59.2
9.0 8.5
0.5 19.9
2.8 Tennyson Road and Mission Blvd (from Hancock Street to Industrial Parkway) 4382.04
70.6%
76.7 32.8
12.9 6.2
0.7 40.9
6.6 4379
64.4%
72.9 59.4
12.0 5.3
0.6 19.7
3.2 4351.04
74.0%
88.9 38.6
14.3 11.0
0.4 28.0
7.7 Average
69.7%
79.5 43.6
13.1 7.5
0.5 29.5
5.8 Mission Blvd (from Industrial Parkway to Corrine Street) 4381
68.8%
64.3 40.8
16.0 7.2
0.8 30.4
4.8 4380
73.6%
44.2 27.0
27.2 8.0
0.0 33.5
4.3 Average
71.2%
54.2 33.9
21.6 7.6
0.4 31.9
4.6 As defined by the Census Bureau, "The diversity index is the chance that two people chosen at random will be from different race and ethnicity groups. A value of 0 indicates that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. A value close to 100 indicates that almost everyone in the population has different racial and ethnic characteristics." According to the index, the Mission Boulevard area is the most diverse at 71.2%.
To address inequities, staff suggests that the “Population Characteristics Percentile” also be considered. This score is calculated by CalEnviroscreen and aggregates many data points including health, education, linguistic isolation, poverty, unemployment, and housing burden. The area with the highest Population Characteristics Percentile is the area south of Jackson Triangle with a score of 85.9.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
Reducing litter on streets and sidewalks helps minimize the amount of trash that gets carried to creeks and the Bay.
PUBLIC CONTACT
There has been no public contact directly related to the implementation of this specific Strategic Roadmap project.
NEXT STEPS
Upon direction from the CSC, staff will develop and release an RFP in fall of 2024 to complete Strategic Roadmap Project NP2. Staff will then seek Council authorization to contract in the spring of 2025 with the most responsive entity(ies).
Prepared by: Jeff Krump, Solid Waste Program Manager
Erik Pearson, Environmental Services Manager
Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
____________________________
Dustin Claussen, Interim City Manager
https://hayward.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=707046&GUID=15522BD2-9DF6-496F-86A6-4C37741D990C&Options=&Search= Management-District-Plan_DHIA_2018.pdf (visithaywardca.com) https://hayward.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6197739&GUID=5BDCCA63-0F7A-46A8-9600-A65B634FEB21&Options=&Search= https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/01/racial-ethnic-diversity-neighborhoods.html https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/maps-data