Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Jestin D. Johnson FROM: G. Harold Duffey
City Administrator Director, Oakland Public
Works
SUBJECT: Informational Report on Illegal
Dumping Programs
DATE: June 15, 2023
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive An Informational Report Regarding An Update On The City Of Oakland’s Programs To Combat Illegal Dumping.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Illegal dumping is a critical issue in the City of Oakland (City). It inflicts economic and environmental hardship on the city’s residents, the majority of which is borne by frontline communities of color in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. This report provides a history and current overview of the City's various programs to combat illegal dumping, including the structure of programs and personnel, challenges, and efforts underway to improve the efficacy and sustainability of those efforts. The majority of illegal dumping removal is accomplished by the Illegal Dumping Unit (IDU) that is housed in the Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Division (KOCB) of Oakland Public Works (OPW). The mission of the IDU is to provide both proactive and reactive services throughout the city to facilitate clean and safe neighborhoods through the timely removal of debris and materials that have been dumped illegally on City-owned public lands and the right of way. This work is supported by other units and divisions within the City that operate programs to remove, prevent, or deter illegal dumping, including the Environmental Enforcement Unit (EEU) also housed in KOCB, the Stewardship Program in the Environmental Services Division, the Parks and Tree Services Division, and bulky waste removal services that are operated by both the City and its solid waste contractor, Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC). These efforts are further supported by contracts with not-for-profit organizations that work with community groups and unhoused individuals to provide micro-cleaning and neighborhood-specific targeted cleanups.
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Illegal dumping is a complex and multi-faceted problem. The City operates multiple programs to combat illegal dumping, including crews and services to pick up debris, as well as initiatives to Jestin Johnson (Jun 15, 2023 20:11 EDT)
Jun 15, 2023
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 2
Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
reduce the source of materials and the cause of dumping. The following provides an overview of the City’s many programs and efforts underway to address this issue.
ILLEGAL DUMPING UNIT
The IDU, housed within the KOCB Division of the Bureau of Environment (BOE) in OPW, is dedicated to improving and preserving Oakland’s environment for residents and businesses through the daily removal of illegal debris from the public right of way. The IDU removes the majority of the City’s illegally dumped materials.
KOCB crews are divided into four (4) geographic operational zones:
• Zone 1: Berkeley Border to Lake Merritt, includes Districts 1 and 3 • Zone 2: Lake Merritt to High Street, includes Districts 1, 2, 4, and 5 • Zone 3: High Street to 82nd Avenue, includes Districts 4, 6, and 7 • Zone 4: 82nd Avenue to San Leandro Border, includes Districts 4, 6, and 7 This operational model improves efficiency and minimizes distances that KOCB crews must travel.
The IDU is comprised of three types of crews:
• A “reactive” crew that responds to service requests received via calls to the City’s Call Center, Oak311, or the “See Click Fix” mobile application. • A “proactive” crew (also referred to as the “Garbage Blitz Crew” (GBC)) that provides illegal dumping services proactively to the community by removing the debris before it is reported. The GBC is deployed to “Hot Spots” then to major corridors to seek out and remove illegally dumped materials in a block by block approach within the assigned zone.
The first GBC was deployed in Council District 6 on March 5, 2018, as a pilot program and has since expanded to cover the full city. A map of the GBC routes is included as Attachment A.
• Homeless encampment (HE) cleaning crews provide trash and debris removal to support critical life, health, and safety conditions in proximity to homeless encampments. The HE crews work in coordination with the Encampment Management Team (EMT), led by the City Administrator’s Office (CAO). When the EMT schedules an encampment deep cleaning or closure, the HE crews provide the debris removal services for that event in coordination with activities of other departments such as the CAO and Human Services Department.
The IDU has 58 total budgeted full-time equivalent personnel including one (1) Supervisor II position, three (3) Supervisor I positions, fifteen (15) Street Maintenance Leaders, one (1), Heavy Equipment Operator, and thirty-eight (38) Public Works Maintenance Workers.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 3
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June 27, 2023
The IDU operates a variety of equipment including five (5) large packers, five (5) mini packers, one (1) drop box truck, one (1) lighting loader, and one (1) single person ariel bucket lift truck.
KOCB crews complete thousands of illegal dumping service requests and work orders each year.
When an individual contacts the City’s OAK311 Call Center to report an issue, a service request is created to which the appropriate City crew(s) responds. When a service request is completed, staff create a work order for the service in order to track it. Work orders are also created for every debris pile picked up by the GBC and for each homeless encampment cleaned; as a result, the annual volume of work orders is higher than the annual number of service request. In fiscal year (FY) 2021-2022, crews completed 26,917 service requests and 46,415 work orders, a slight decrease from the previous two years. It is postulated that the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to a spike in dumping during those years when more people were at home and had additional time to clean or renovate. This data is illustrated in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Illegal Dumping Service Request by Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Total Number of
Completed Service
Requests
Percentage
complete within 3
days
Average number
of days to
complete service
Request
Total Number of Completed
Work Orders*
2021-2022 26,917 85% 2 46,415
2020-2021 35,860 89% 2 54,197
2019-2020 30,736 90% 2 59,218
2018-2019 27,074 92% 1 38,771
2017-2018 26,460 No Data No Data 31,225
2016-2017 No Data No Data No Data 27,392
* Work Order numbers also include work completed by the Proactive “Garbage Blitz” crews as well as homeless encampment cleanings and is therefore significantly higher than the number of service requests.
As illustrated in Attachment B, Map of Illegal Dumping Work Orders by Council District for Fiscal Year 2021-2022, and Attachment C, the Geographic Equity Toolbox Map that was developed by the Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT), illegal dumping disproportionally affects the city’s frontline communities of color. City data show that the neighborhoods/areas most impacted by ongoing economic disinvestment also experience higher rates of illegal dumping. The proactive approach is intended to be a strategy to address illegal dumping more rapidly in disadvantaged areas and reduce barriers or delays in service by not requiring a resident to submit a service request before material is picked up. OPW is also focusing enforcement strategies in these communities, as will be discussed later in the report.
The total volume of illegally dumped material collected by KOCB over the last seven years is shown in the Figure 1 below.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 4
Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
Figure 1
Citywide Garbage Blitz Strategy
In the fall of 2022, the proactive methodology was applied to a citywide cleanup strategy. For two weeks at the beginning of November, all IDU crews, including the reactive, proactive, and available HE crews were redirected to clean the GBC routes (which include all major transportation corridors). As a result of this push, the City saw illegal dumping service requests for that time period drop by approximately 25%. As a result of this, KOCB now employs this strategy one week per month to address hot spots along the GBC routes.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT
The Environmental Enforcement Unit (EEU), which started in the early 2000’s and then disbanded in 2011, was restarted in March 2019 with a staff of four (4) Environmental Enforcement Officers (EEO). Four (4) additional EEO positions were funded in the FY 2021-23 budget cycle. The EEU Program also includes one (1) Administrative Analyst I and one (1) Clean Community Supervisor.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 5
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June 27, 2023
The EEOs ensure that businesses and residents know the proper way to dispose of their waste and the full impacts of unlawful dumping, to encourage behavior change. To support this goal, the EEOs utilize several educational platforms, including attending community meetings and outreach events and conducting zone walks. The EEOs also speak at press conferences and promote services via social media. In addition, the EEOs help promote the Bulky Block Parties, which allow Oakland residents to bring their unwanted debris to a designated location on the last Saturday of each month, free of charge.
The EEOs are primarily tasked with enforcing illegal dumping restrictions and regulations and have citation authority to bring residents and businesses into compliance with Oakland Municipal Code (OMC) Section 8.28. EEOs use various tactics to hold illegal dumpers accountable for their actions, including forensic investigations involving thorough inspections of illegally dumped piles of debris, and as of March 2022, monitoring video footage captured by a series of surveillance cameras that are installed at illegal dumping hot spots throughout the city. A report on the first year of the surveillance camera program was presented at the June 8, 2023 Privacy Advisory Commission meeting and is being requested to be presented to the Public Works Committee on July 11, 2023.
Lastly, EEOs utilize data provided by the City’s solid waste management contractor, Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC) and other methods, to ensure commercial businesses have the mandatory trash and recycling collection services. WMAC provides the EEOs with a list of businesses that have been delinquent with their account payments for more than one billing cycle, which allows the EEOs to confirm if those businesses are still in operation. If the EEOs determine that a business is in operation and is not receiving the appropriate collection services, the City will issue a warning letter the business and eventually a citation, in the event of continued non-compliance. Related to this effort, the EEOs are cracking down on instances of unlawful dumping in or near litter containers used by commercial businesses. The EEOs inspect materials left next to litter containers, and if the materials can be traced to businesses in the nearby area, the EEOs will confirm if these businesses have trash service and sign-up any businesses that do not.
PARKS AND TREE SERVICES DIVISION
The Parks and Tree Services Division (PTSD), a division within OPW BOE, is responsible for debris removal within City-owned parks, medians, and open spaces, except for debris removal that is clearly associated with homeless encampments. Illegal dumping is removed 7 days a week from parks with an increase noted on the weekends when the parks are used more heavily by the public. To manage the increase in illegal dumping debris in recent years, PTSD acquired 6 mini- packer trucks that have a six (6) cubic yard capacity, which is equal to 3 standard dump trucks.
Even with the appropriate equipment, litter and illegal dumping removal has become an overwhelming task for PTSD staff. It comprises approximately fifty percent of labor hours, which significantly reduces the amount of time that could be spent attending to the core mission of PTSD which is providing services such as weeding, mowing, pruning, mulching, and overall landscaping and tending of the park spaces.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 6
Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
Illegal dumping impacts mowing and irrigation operations, as equipment operators must pick up debris on lawns and fields prior to mowing to avoid driving over the debris, which could harm equipment or become shredded and a projectile. Irrigation systems are frequently damaged by trucks that drive onto park spaces to illegally dump items, requiring costly and time-consuming repairs.
Staff are considering areas where fencing or bollards may deter vehicles from entering parks that have the highest rates of illegal dumping by vehicles, but those solutions are themselves costly and would need to be added to a future budget request.
STEWARDSHIP
The Stewardship Program within ESD operates several community-oriented cleaning initiatives that significantly contribute to removal of litter, debris, and illegally dumped materials citywide.
Programs like Adopt-a-Spot, Adopt-a-Drain, and annual citywide engagement activities including Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in January, Earth Day in April, and Creek to Bay Day in September engage thousands of residents to participate in activities that beautify and clean the city’s parks and neighborhoods and prevent thousands of pounds of debris from causing blight and polluting waterways.
In 2022 10,270 community members contributed 60,426 hours of volunteer time to cleaning the city, resulting in the removal of 2,765 cubic yards of litter and debris. These programs not only result in a cleaner city, but also raise awareness of the impacts of dumping, support sustainable neighborhood stewardship, and strengthen the relationship between the City and its residents.
The Stewardship Program also manages two contracts that advance the City’s wider illegal dumping/litter removal effort. The first is the Lake Merritt Institute (LMI), to perform and coordinate volunteer removal of trash from Lake Merritt and its immediate surroundings a minimum of four to five days per week. LMI also conducts stormwater education presentations to volunteers, schools, civic groups, neighborhood associations, and the general public to promote stormwater pollution prevention practices and volunteerism.
The second contract is with Youth Employment Partnership, to manage the City’s Team Oakland program which hires Oakland youth between the ages of 15 and 24 to conduct community cleanups. In addition, participants promote, among other things, the City’s Bulky Pickup service in illegal dumping hotspots and the Adopt-a-Spot program to residents and businesses in underserved communities.
NON-PROFIT PARTNERSHIPS
The City contracts with several non-profit organizations to provide supplemental cleaning services including micro-cleanings at homeless encampment cleanup locations, Caltrans off-ramps and targeted areas:
• The Beautification Council (BC) – Works with unhoused residents, unemployed, and justice system-involved individuals to micro-clean and sanitize homeless encampments after KOCB crews remove the bulk of the debris. The community-based nonprofit also Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 7
Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
abates illegally dumped debris at the City’s request. Under a grant from Caltrans, the City contracts with BC to remove litter and debris from the State’s right of way. • Downtown Streets Team (DST) – Uses a volunteer work experience model where unhoused residents conduct litter and trash removal in exchange for case management, employment services and a basic needs stipend. Routes in four designated areas - East Lake Merritt, Saint Vincent de Paul, International Boulevard, and Fruitvale - are maintained weekly by DST.
• Peralta Services Corporation (PSC) - Through a grant from the Office of Councilmember Gallo, the PSC hires "re-entry adults and un-employed/under-employed Oaklanders to provide street cleaning services in targeted areas of the Fruitvale district to keep sidewalks and business areas clean. PSC Outreach Ambassadors are also dispatched in the same community to educate local businesses and residents on waste reduction and proper waste disposal.
ENFORCEMENT OF ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION DEBRIS HAULERS
Unscrupulous and illegally operating haulers contribute to the City’s illegal dumping problem.
Beginning FY 2021-2022, the City began enforcing Construction and Demolition (C&D) debris hauling requirements against building permit holders who hire haulers to transport C&D debris without a City-issued non-exclusive franchise contract. The City delivers a Notice of Violation to the building permit holder via the City’s web-based platform Green Halo Systems, and if necessary, assesses penalty fees against their permit to hold them accountable.
The City advertises this program through information on hauling requirements at the Department of Motor Vehicles and through an insert in the WMAC bill. In FY 2022-2023, the City adopted additional measures to increase awareness and compliance, such as imposing heavier penalties for violations of the City’s C&D debris recycling/hauling requirements. Per OMC Section 1.08.060, staff assess a fine of up to $1,000 per day for violations. The penalty fees are added to the building permit and must be paid before the construction project can be finalized. Staff are also developing a method to hold unauthorized haulers directly accountable, which will be implemented when staff resources become available.
A recently-adopted amendment to OMC Section 15.34 will increase the number of permitted construction projects that fall under C&D debris recycling and hauling requirements, allowing staff to further identify and target unauthorized haulers and narrowing the pool of illegal dumping sources.
BULKY DEBRIS SERVICES
In addition to the debris pickup services, OPW also operates several programs to deter dumping by offering residents opportunities to dispose of large item debris free of charge.
Curbside Bulky Pickup
WMAC provides curbside bulky pickup service scheduled by appointment and available to residents of 1-4 unit single family dwellings (SFD) since 2005, and to residents of 5-plus unit multi-family dwellings (MFD) since July 2015. SFD may schedule two appointments per year and Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 8
Public Works & Transportation Committee
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on average residents citywide schedule a total of 1,965 appointments per month. MFDs may schedule one appointment per year and on average these are scheduled 472 times per month (see Table 2 below).
Table 2: 2022 Curbside Bulky Pickup by Council District
District
MULTI-
FAMILY
SINGLE
FAMILY
Total
Units
Served in
2022
District 1 301 5,955 6,256
District 2 1,267 2,737 4,004
District 3 1,301 1,718 3,019
District 4 1,323 3,780 5,103
District 5 640 3,077 3,717
District 6 487 5,141 5,628
District 7 219 4,225 4,444
District Not Known 363 186 549
Total Units Served
in CY 2022
5,901
26,819
32,720
Percentage Served
Out of Total Units
Citywide
8.1%
23.7%
17.5%
Self-Haul Bulky Appointments
Additionally, each SFD and MFD unit is entitled to one self-haul appointment to deliver bulky items to WMAC’s Davis Street facility once per year at no additional cost. WMAC will accept up to four (4) yards of bulky goods at no cost; additional amounts are accepted at the posted rate.
Davis Street will accept up to fifty (50) drop-offs per day Monday through Friday and one hundred (100) on Saturdays. Table 3 below summarizes the monthly usage rates in 2022. No-shows account for the difference between Scheduled Appointments and Used Appointments. There is an opportunity to improve the utilization rate of these appointments; staff will be looking increasing outreach about this service to neighborhoods where illegal dumping is a more chronic issue.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 9
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Table 3: 2022 Bulky Drop Off Appointments by Month
Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total Appoint-
ments
Available
1450 1400 1550 1550 1500 1500 1550 1550 1500 1550 1500 1600 18200 Scheduled
Appoint-
ments
334 273 264 275 273 287 362 282 297 330 236 313 3526
Used
Appoint-
ments
178 115 118 136 134 127 166 115 108 126 106 130 1559
Percen-
tage of
Appoint-
ments
Available
Scheduled
23% 20% 17% 18% 18% 19% 23% 18% 20% 21% 16% 20% 19%
Percen-
tage of
Appoint-
ments
Available
Used
12% 8% 8% 9% 9% 8% 11% 7% 7% 8% 7% 8% 9%
Bulky Block Parties
On the last Saturday of each month, OPW’s KOCB division hosts a “Bulky Block Party” (BBP) at the Municipal Service Center on Edgewater Drive. At these events, Oakland residents are invited to bring large bulky debris items that cannot be disposed of through their normal trash services.
The number of vehicles served and the amount of debris collected is shown in Table 4 and Table 5 below.
Table 4: Vehicles Served at
BBP FY 2021-22
MONTH # of Vehicles
JUL 461
AUG 464
SEPT 326
OCT 304
NOV 40
DEC 149
JAN 423
FEB 287
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 10
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MAR 237
APR 337
MAY 174
JUN 409
Total 3611
Table 5: BBP Tonnage Totals FY
2021-22
MONTH TONS
JUL No Data
AUG 75.91
SEPT 56.69
OCT 42.8
NOV 21.01
DEC 35.05
JAN 66.56
FEB 60.15
MAR 72.96
APR 86.02
MAY 3.23
JUN 116.08
TOTAL 636.46
Neighborhood Bulky Block Parties
Beginning in fall 2022, OPW began a new initiative called the Neighborhood Bulky Block Party wherein OPW partners with community groups to support their ownership in keeping their neighborhoods clean. The program brings the popular Bulky Block Party into some of Oakland’s neighborhoods most affected by illegal dumping. The events are also paired with other strategies and services with the intention of empowering the community to be stewards and maintain cleaner neighborhoods. The events are also coordinated with the Neighborhood Services Division and City Council Offices. In addition to the bulky item drop-off, the program includes:
• Working closely with neighborhood community leaders and groups, including the Neighborhood Council and the Resident Action Council, to ensure strong community participation and support in all efforts to provide and maintain a cleaner neighborhood. • Partnering with community members to canvass the neighborhood to raise awareness of the event and provide additional service information so residents can take full advantage of OAK311, the bulky collection program, engage with Adopt-a-Spot or Adopt-a-Drain programs, and other activities.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 11
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• Educating residents about the multiple no-cost services available to remove large debris and discourage dumping or hiring of cheap illegal haulers, who may dump in one of Oakland’s neighborhoods or parks.
• Installing illegal dumping surveillance cameras to support enforcement at key locations in the neighborhood. As part of this component, neighborhood leaders and EEOs collaborate to establish reporting methods and other strategies to prevent recurrences of dumping in the neighborhood.
• Conducting a community volunteer cleanup in the neighborhood on the same day as the Neighborhood Bulky Block Party event, led by community volunteers and supported by OPW’s Adopt-a-Spot program.
• Supporting the volunteer cleanup with day-of beautification services provided by KOCB crews including debris pickup, graffiti removal, vegetation removal, and street sweeping. • Celebrating the event’s success with a community/volunteer appreciation event to recognize the tremendous work of neighborhood leaders.
The events are scheduled quarterly. The first event in October 2022 took place in the Sobrante Park neighborhood in Council District 7 and the subsequent event was held in the Melrose neighborhood in Council District 5. The third event is scheduled for July 15 in West Oakland in Council District 3.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
Illegal dumping is one of the City’s most critical issues and the volume of illegal dumping has dramatically increased since 2017. Requests to the OAK311 Call Center to remove illegal dumping represent the number one issue of all service requests received by the City – 23,915 requests in fiscal year 2021-2022. While City work crews and programs successfully abate illegal dumping on both a proactive and reactive basis, City resources struggle to keep pace with the volume of dumped materials. In certain cases, the City’s efficiency at removing debris encourages more dumping, because some dumpers have become accustomed to the frequency and timing of debris removal performed by the City. This can contribute to a community perception that material is not being picked up, when often the reality is that the debris has been cleared but more dumping quickly reoccurs, giving appearance that no action has been taken to remove the dumped materials.
A true solution to the issue requires a multifaceted approach and that cannot rely solely on staffing and equipment to pick up more debris. OPW has several initiatives, such as the aforementioned bulky debris services, to properly dispose of debris at its source before it becomes illegal dumping. Additional new approaches include:
• Increasing Enforcement – OPW successfully added positions to its Environmental Enforcement Unit; there are now eight (8) budgeted Environmental Enforcement Officers compared to only four (4) in 2019. Several of these positions are vacant and recruitment to fill the positions is critical to ensure adequate staffing to patrol neighborhoods, conduct forensic investigations of trash piles, monitor surveillance cameras aimed at illegal dumping hot spots, and participate in outreach and investigations to ensure businesses have adequate garbage service. Staff are also in discussions with staff from the Alameda Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
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Public Works & Transportation Committee
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County District Attorney’s Office regarding opportunities for collaboration including possible joint sting operations to catch dumpers. The goal of this partnership is not only to catch dumpers and issues citations, but to publicize to a broad audience that dumpers are being caught and fined or prosecuted, and therefore Oakland is not a place to dump.
• Ensuring Businesses Have Adequate Garbage Service – According to WMAC, the city’s solid waste service provider, there may be as many as 6,800 businesses that are not signed up for mandatory garbage service. Lack of garbage services leads to an increase in dumping and overuse of street litter containers which then overflow and attract additional dumping. One (1) full-time equivalent EEO position is budgeted to specifically investigate this issue; once that staff member is onboarded, this will become a resourced focus area for the EEU.
• Examine Opportunities for Upsizing Trash Containers - Under the current solid waste (Mixed Materials and Organics) contract, SFD trash collection rates for large trash carts are disproportionately high compared to discounted small carts. Communities throughout California and across the nation have adopted this approach that was intended to provide an economic incentive for recycling and maximize placement of accepted recyclable and compostable materials in the recycling and compost carts. However, while current data show that Oakland residents are placing only a nominal amount of accepted recyclable items in their trash carts, the amount of trash residents place in their compost and recycling carts has increased significantly.
Faced with the disproportionally high prices for large carts, many Oakland households opt to subscribe for small carts out of economic need instead of based on their household trash volume. This results in placement of excess trash in the household’s compost and recycling carts, on the streets, illegal use of public street litter containers to dispose of household trash, and more instances of illegal hauling and dumping of residential trash.
Staff continue to explore opportunities to remove this economic disincentive and encourage households to select an appropriately sized trash container.
While multiple City programs will continue to tackle debris removal through innovative strategies and methods, including efforts to ensure full staffing and use of the latest equipment, the long- term solution must focus on programs that address the source of debris through outreach, education, enforcement and partnerships at the local and state level.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item is for informational purposes only and does not have a direct fiscal impact or cost.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 13
Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
No outreach was deemed necessary for this informational report beyond the standard City Council agenda noticing procedures.
COORDINATION
This report has been prepared in coordination among several divisions of OPW including Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful, Parks and Tree Services, and Environmental Services. The report has been reviewed by the Office of the City Attorney and the Budget Bureau.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: The accumulation of illegal debris adversely impacts Oakland’s economy. Visitors reduce their patronage of local businesses when the surrounding areas feel unpleasant or unsafe, and blighted neighborhoods reduce property values. Additionally, removing illegal dumping is very expensive. If programs to reduce debris at the source are successful, the City can cut its costs on debris removal programs.
Environmental: Providing clean neighborhoods creates safe and healthy environments for the city’s residents. Removing debris eliminates harbors for pests and physical hazards from the public right of way. Preventing and removing illegal dumping is also critical to keep solid litter, debris, and associated pollutants from entering the storm drain system and polluting waterways.
Race & Equity: Illegal dumping and litter occur disproportionately in the city’s frontline communities of color. Those communities bear the brunt of these activities including impacts to residents’ health, safety, and sense of well-being. Addressing illegal dumping with all available resources and innovative programs will improve the quality of life for those residing in communities where illegal dumping most frequently occurs.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Illegal Dumping Programs Informational Report
Date: June 15, 2023 Page 14
Public Works & Transportation Committee
June 27, 2023
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive An Informational Report Regarding An Update On The City Of Oakland’s Programs To Combat Illegal Dumping.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Kristin Hathaway, Assistant Director, Oakland Public Works.
Respectfully submitted,
Harold (Glenn) Duffey
Harold (Glenn) Duffey (Jun 15, 2023 16:05 PDT)
G. HAROLD DUFFEY
Director, Oakland Public Works
Prepared by:
Kristin Hathaway
Assistant Director
Bureau of Environment
John Hillmon
Operations Manager
Keep Oakland Clean & Beautiful
Derek Lee
Environmental Services Manager
Environmental Services Division
Attachments (3):
A – Map of Garbage Blitz Routes
B – Map of Illegal Dumping Work Orders Completed by Council District C – Race and Equity Map