Wherever you go in Los Angeles, chances are someone is angry about the trash littering their neighborhood or business.
One such place is an alley behind Ruben Donis’ house in Pacoima. For years he has seen and sometimes recorded people dumping everything from old wood, sandpaper, metal mesh and sinks behind his neighborhood.
“People just come from the construction site with trash,” Donis said as he walked past some of the trash. ‘There’s a sink here. Someone has demonstrated a kitchen or a bathroom.’
Donis suspects that dishonest contractors will ask their customers to remove trash, but pocket the money instead of going to the landfill. During Donis’ brief interview, KCAL News reporter Jeff Nguyen saw two trucks driving through the alley, including a man looking for scraps who threw a 2-by-4-inch piece of wood back into the mud after spotting the cameras .
Another makeshift dump is located in downtown LA, near Jeremy Mora’s business. His security cameras captured a front-end loader dumping trash and people dragging large bins before emptying them in the middle of the street at night. It also happened in broad daylight, during business hours, all caught on camera and with many witnesses.
The area is called “Produce Row”. It is the place where fruit and vegetables that end up on people’s plates are unloaded from trucks – a stone’s throw from rats. The sidewalk is littered with rat droppings.
“I mean, worst case scenario, these rats are going to play with your food,” Mora said. “It’s a health hazard.”
The problem is not exclusive to Produce Row or the Donis neighborhood of Pacoima. A security camera captured a truck slamming on its brakes to quickly unload a couch and a car bumper near DJ Eddie One’s home.
“It was disturbing because they were whole pieces of a motorcycle,” said DJ Eddie One, who does the morning commute for MEGA 96.3 FM.
Security camera
KCAL News analyzed data from the LA City Department of Sanitation showing that calls for help with illegal dumping fell nearly 14% from 2021 to 2023. However, the number of citations almost doubled in the same period.
Between January and July 2024, the citation rate decreased compared to the previous year’s increasing trend.
In 2022, the city budget added openings to hire 11 environmental compliance inspectors with enforcement authority against illegal dumping. The following year, those 11 positions remained in place. However, they were cut from the current budget and no one at City Hall could answer why.
“Dumping continues to be a major issue we face,” said Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure Randall Winston. “Enforcement is one tool in the toolset.”
Winston said Mayor Karen Bass revamped the 311 service to better respond to problems like illegal dumping. The Bureau of Sanitation’s budget increased by nearly $90 million from 2021 to 2023, according to the City Controller’s Office. However, cuts have been made by more than $15 million from the current fiscal year.
“I don’t know that number, but because of our response to cleaning up the city, we have actually strengthened our service since the previous year. We are now reallocating resources to develop a new plan for cleaning up the entire city,” says Winston. said.
Winston said the new plan will be rolled out later this year or early 2025.
On October 1, the LA City Council passed a motion to direct Sanitation and other necessary departments to identify funding to “resume illegal dumping investigations” because “the unit did not have the required funding.”
“We provided photos, videos and time stamps,” Mora said. “No matter how much information and evidence you give them, there is absolutely no enforcement effort.”
A video recorded by Artemiza and Gabino Arreola’s daughter-in-law shows another example of a makeshift junkyard. The couple says on top of the trash is a sheen of motor oil that was also dumped behind their home.
Their daughter-in-law says she contacted 311 dozens of times and forwarded her emails to Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez’s office, pleading for help.
KCAL News made numerous requests to her spokesperson for an interview in October, but did not receive a statement from her office until shortly before this story aired.
“I take illegal dumping and the cleanliness of the community very seriously,” she stated. “My team is carrying out weekly community actions to ensure this area and all other areas in Council District 7 remain clean.”
“Every time I call Monica to pick up the trash, she has to wait two months,” Artemiza Arreola said in Spanish, according to Donis who translated for her.
The Sanitation Department also declined our request for an interview. However, they sent a statement saying they are “committed to combating the scourge and leveraging existing resources through a strategic approach.” The agency also said, “in November, we began deploying crews daily to additional areas to pick up litter, debris, illegal dumping and large items.”
Donis recently came home to find trash being thrown out of the alley in his backyard, which he has worked hard to turn into a sanctuary. On the other side of the wall, he often finds syringes left behind by scavengers drawn to the trash. He said the trash has forced his family to skip quality time outside with his children.
“It’s sad,” he said. “My children [will say] “Can we have a movie night?” Bring pillows and a blanket and just come here with some popcorn and enjoy with the family, but you can’t do that.”
In the lead-up to this report, the mayor’s office sent us photos and videos of a cleanup event they organized last weekend. Donis said he received a call from Deputy Mayor Winston in mid-November promising more would be done. However, Donis said there has been no follow-up since.
Councilman Rodriguez’s office said it has contacted the neighborhood mentioned in the story, but the people KCAL News spoke with disputed that claim. They said they gave up calling 311 after years of disappointment.
