No solution for scenic dumping ground

It should be the perfect Sunday drive route, a bucolic and tranquil stretch of two-lane blacktop snaking past rural horse farms and lush woodland leading to the quaint burgs of Port Costa and Crockett.

But the picturesque backdrop of Franklin Canyon Road is marred by piles of trash, furtively dumped there by those too lazy, broke or profit-motive driven to steer seven more miles and pay to unload at the nearest landfill or transfer station.

From Alhambra Avenue to McEwen Road and beyond, almost every turnout is littered with heaps of broken toilets, soggy insulation, tires, busted couches and assorted household detritus. Some weeks the drive is easier on the eye than others, depending on when Contra Costa County and Martinez Public Works Department workers make their periodic cleanup sweeps.

Franklin Canyon Road falls under City of Martinez jurisdiction until about Dutra Road; from Dutra Road west to where it joins with the [*bleep*]s Skyway, the road is the County’s responsibility.

Joe Yee, assistant director of the County’s Public Works Division, said his crew clears the trash off Franklin Canyon Road about once a month. According to Lee, last year the County picked up 272 cubic yards - or 27 trips with a 10-wheel dump truck - of illegally dumped matter, at a cost to taxpayers of $33,000, on Franklin Canyon Road alone; Yee’s department spent $278,000 in 2009 to rid the County’s 657 road miles of illegally dumped refuse.

“The more you clean, the more they dump, cleaning it up is not the answer,” said Yee. “It takes enforcement and education, and our budget doesn’t allow for it, public works has no enforcement power. The magnitude of the program we’re faced with, it’s a shame because the money comes from the same pot as repairing pot holes, trimming trees, fixing road surfaces…we need to take care of higher priorities [than picking up illegally-dumped trash], frankly, it’s not a high priority and just one of those things people tolerate.”

Since all the local transfer stations, landfills and garbage hauling companies (including Allied Waste, which collects Martinez residential and household garbage once a week), are private companies, the County must pay to dispose of the illegally dumped material at the same rate as anyone else - it has no special deals worked out the waste companies.

For example, said Yee, someone dumped a huge load of debris on private property owned by the West County School District. The District called the County, Public Works sent a cleaning crew, and it cost the department $700 in dump fees to get the job done.

Franklin Canyon Road straddles the boundary between two County-sanctioned (known as franchised) haulers, Allied Waste and Richmond Sanitary Service, and there is no mandate that the garbage companies pick up trash on the side of the road.

Martinez Public Works Director Dave Scola said his department doesn’t “have a real problem there,” apparently because the Martinez-owned portion of Franklin Canyon Road is more populated and illegal dumpers tend to prefer the less-inhabited county-maintained sections.

“It’s not as bad [on the section under his jurisdiction] than some other areas, the further out the worse it is,” said Scola on Tuesday. “It’s pretty common that people toss out appliances, couches.”

All of the county and city personnel interviewed agreed that shady contractors and individuals offering hauling services from construction sites are considered the primary culprits of illegal dumping, evidenced by heaps of roofing materials, broken concrete, and disintegrating drywall.

“Some guy with a truck says, oh, I can take that away, it’s complete profit for them if they dump it without paying,” explained Deirdra Dingman, the County’s manager of waste and climate conservation programs. “The same old motto applies, if it sounds too good to be true, it is- don’t hire unlicensed haulers or questionable contractors. Due to the nature of the debris left, it clearly seems to be those in construction or demolition illegally dumping, but is it a company or do-it-yourself homeowners?”

What’s the solution? Evidently, not the installation of more “No Dumping” signage (on Franklin Canyon Road there is little to no warning signage now). Dingman ironically described how illegal haulers often use the signs themselves as a tool for quick dumping. Since the point is to dump and then beat it as fast as possible before being seen, some line a truck bed with a tarp, pile on the trash, drive to a desolate spot, tie a rope between the load and an available “No Dumping” sign, and zoom off.

“It’s a quick way to unload, a crafty ‘dump and run,’ Dingman said. “People generally know they are doing something wrong, they’re doing it not because they don’t know it’s against the law, but because they think they won’t get caught.”

When asked if surveillance cameras might help curb the problem, Yee said it was technically infeasible.

For Franklin Canyon Road, “we looked into one system, but it cost $6000 and it only took still photos - unless [the cameras] are focused at exactly the right spot and the right time, it’s difficult to use for prosecution,” said Yee. “Plus, finding places to mount them, we can’t do it on PG&E poles because they would restrict access, and vandalism [most likely will occur].”

In North Richmond, where illegally dumping is a rampant problem, the County worked a deal with Richmond Sanitary Service, the private garbage hauler servicing Richmond, Pinole, Hercules and Rodeo. In exchange for an operating permit, the company pays a mitigation fee. The fee revenue was used for a while to pay for a Sheriff Deputy to poke through the dumped trash for clues on the perpetrators. Yee remembered one case in which his crew found a pile of debris containing tax returns and personal information, which they used to locate the guilty party. Officials said they’ve heard the gamut of excuses people provide when confronted with accusations of illegal dumping, including, ‘someone stole my garbage.’

Officials also agree that catching dumpers or ensuring enforcement of the existing laws against illegal dumping is onerous.

“Even if we found information [leading to identification], aside from approaching folks and telling them not to do again, we don’t typically have an adequate degree of evidence needed for prosecution,” said Dingman, adding that the fine for breaking relevant laws is a measly $100.

“That’s the cost of one or two dumps [trips to the landfill], so it’s a slap on the wrist,” said Dingman. “In terms of [solving the illegal dumping dilemma], it’s a little bit of a lot of things. One is getting out the message that people need to maximize the service they are already paying for, most don’t read all the info from their garbage company,” Dingman recommended. Allied offers two on-call pickups up to 15 bags per month to any customer, although there are restrictions regarding weight and potential household hazardous waste. But a recent weekend survey of debris dumped on the sides of Franklin Canyon Road revealed the majority could have been picked up for free by a franchised waste management company.

For more information on the County’s effort to curb illegal dumping, see www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/depart/cd/recycle/illegal-dumping.htm.