DATE: May 6, 2025
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT Adopt a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute an Agreement with the Downtown Streets Team in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $100,000 to Expand Litter Collection Efforts
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council adopts a resolution (Attachment II) authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with the Downtown Streets Team in an amount not-to- exceed $100,000 to expand litter collection efforts.
SUMMARY
The Strategic Roadmap for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 includes the priority to Cultivate Vibrant Neighborhoods, which lists Special Project NP2: Expand litter collection services (like the Downtown Streets Team) to pick up litter through the City. To implement project NP2, the City of Hayward City Council allocated $100,000 from the General Fund. Staff released a request for proposals (RFP) and received three proposals. Staff recommend awarding a contract to the Downtown Street’s Team (DST) to implement project NP2.
City Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) Review
On September 16, 20241, staff presented the CSC with a report titled Expanding Litter Collection Efforts in Hayward – Discussion and Direction to Staff . The CSC directed staff to focus efforts on specific areas outside of Downtown to conduct litter collection in the request for proposals (RFP) for enhanced litter collection in Hayward.
BACKGROUND
Litter reduction has been a high priority for the City of Hayward and has been discussed by the City Council, Council Sustainability Committee, the Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task
1 https://hayward.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6864659&GUID=96EDE844-C60F-4914-8D3E- 93E1BF92A650&Options=&Search=
Force, and the City Council Budget and Committee many times in the last several years.
Annually, the City allocates more than $2 million per year on litter abatement. These efforts include street sweeping, cleaning storm drains, weekend clean-up events, the annual clean- up day at Weekes Park, and the Adopt-a-Block Program. In addition, the Maintenance Services Department has nine full-time positions dedicated to collecting litter and illegal dumping, the Downtown Hayward Improvement Association collects litter and along Downtown, the Downtown Steets Team collects litter in the Downtown and the Tennyson area, and the City provides public waste receptacles throughout the City.
On May 8, 20232, staff presented to the CSC a report on a data-based litter assessment performed by litter data science company, Litterati. The project analyzed 300 locations for three, seven-day periods in April (Spring), July (Summer), and September (Fall). The study found that the top three most common litter for the three seasons included cigarette butts, bottlecaps, and tissues. The greatest amount of litter was found in medium to high density residential areas, near the Hayward Executive Airport, Costco, and along Industrial Avenue.
After evaluating the Litterati study, analyzing the developments in the high litter areas, and receiving recommendations from the CSC, staff identified four potential locations for expanded litter collection efforts. On September 16, 20243, staff requested CSC guidance on selecting two of the following four locations:
a) The Jackson Triangle: Soto Road from Jackson Street to Harder Road. b) The Harder-Tennyson Neighborhood: Huntwood Avenue from Gading Road to Tennyson Road.
c) The Tennyson Road and Mission Boulevard area: Mission Blvd. from Hancock Street to Industrial Parkway, which includes Burger King, SoHay, and other higher-density housing.
d) Mission Boulevard from Industrial Parkway to Corrine Street, which includes Sonic Drive-In, Jack-in-the-Box, and 7-Eleven.
The CSC selected areas ‘a’ and ‘b’ and raised concerns about litter from fast-food restaurants and the need for more public litter cans. Committee members also asked if restaurants such as Raising Cane’s participate in the adopt-a-block program. Staff has since confirmed that the conditions of approval for both Raising Cane’s and In and Out require that their staff remove trash and litter within 300 feet of the perimeter of the property daily.
DISCUSSION
On January 28, 2025, staff released RFP and received three responses as of March 11, 2025.
The RFP’s scope of work includes litter collection along Soto Road and Huntwood Avenue as shown below in red and black respectively in Figure 1.
2 CITY OF HAYWARD - File #: ACT 23-028
3 CITY OF HAYWARD - File #: ACT 24-073
Figure 1. Areas Designated for Expanded Litter Collection
Of the three proposals, DST’s most closely met the scope of work and was the only proposal to stay within the required budget. Their proposal offers four times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) litter collection service from 8:00am to 12:00pm, which was the most frequent of the three proposals. DST’s proposal entails two shift leaders and two to three volunteers servicing both locations each day. DST , a non-profit, provides the unhoused and at-risk with workforce development and employment opportunities. Staff have developed a good working relationship with DST since 2018, as DST has been providing beautification services for the past seven years along the Tennyson corridor and in the Downtown.
Council Sustainability Committee Review
On September 16, 2024, staff presented the CSC with a report titled Expanding Litter Collection Efforts in Hayward – Discussion and Direction to Staff. The CSC directed staff to focus efforts on specific areas outside of Downtown to conduct litter collection in the request for proposals (RFP) for enhanced litter collection in Hayward.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Expanding litter collection efforts will positively impact the economy by improving neighborhood cleanliness, mitigating the effects of litter, reducing urban blight, and potentially encouraging the community to explore local businesses.
FISCAL IMPACT
The project has been allocated $100,000 from the General Fund. Staff time from budgeted positions will also be used to manage the project.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority to Cultivate Vibrate Neighborhoods, and specifically relates to implementation of the following Project:
Objective 1: Invest in Cleanliness and Blight Reduction Project NP2: Expand litter collection services (like Downtown Streets Team) to pick up litter through the City
The Strategic Roadmap identifies a racial equity focus for this project and must be reviewed through a racial equity lens. The racial equity lens requires consideration of 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, staff presented to the CSC demographic data, including the Census Bureau’s Racial and Ethnic Diversity Index4, for several census tracts. To address inequities, staff also presented the “Population Characteristics Percentile” for each area.
This score is calculated by CalEnviroscreen5 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 Jackson Triangle with a score of 82.2.
SUST AINABILITY FEATURES
Reducing litter will help minimize waste from disrupting our ecosystem and getting into the stormwater system.
4 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." 5 https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/maps-data
PUBLIC CONT ACT
The RFP was open to the public from January 8 to March 11, 2025.
NEXT STEPS
If the City Council approves the item, the City Manager will negotiate and execute a contract with DST to expand litter collection efforts in the Jackson Triangle (Soto Road from Jackson Street to Harder Road) and the Harder-Tennyson Neighborhood (Huntwood Avenue from Grading Road to Tennyson Road).
Prepared by: Stephanie Dumont, Sustainability Specialist Jeff Krump, Solid Waste Program Manager
Erik Pearson, Environmental Services Manager
Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
___________________________
Dr . Ana M. Alvarez, City Manager