it into dispatch. we would not require the public to make another service request. if our folks have the capacity, they should address it at that time, or they would report it in. supervisor avalos: i had another person who lives in the xl cher. she reported to me that she called 311, and she saw a van in the process of dumping. she was able to get its license plate, called 311, was patched into the police department, and they said, we probably would not be able to follow up on this because the van operator would say that he was caught in error and was not dumping. it is not something we can get involved in. i think she went to the general dispatch, not the end with station, which serves the

excelsior. it certainly raises the issue that there is a need for this coordination between dpw and the police department's, when actually find a person doing it, how are we going to follow up? the suspectthis patch person sat there are other things that take up much more of our time. it was something difficult for people in the public, who felt like they had recourse for this one issue of dumping -- and then down and they did not. we want to feel powerful in dealing with this issue. what can we do to fix that kind of coordination between our departments and 311? >> i think that is accurate in terms of what i have heard happening as well. the protocol at 311 is they would call over to the 911 non-

emergency number. if you see it in progress, you would either call 911 or the other number, as they would immediately be able to dispatch somebody. it is correct, given the limitations on police resources, it will be challenging for the police to respond and follow-up. i would miss only, without photographic evidence, is something that would be difficult to prosecute. those questions might be better for the police or d.a. to answer. in terms of coordination, something we have identified that we need to do better is stronger in gay men with the police department. we will be sitting down with the police. i got a similar complaint to the one that you just mentioned. it is an issue we need to address. there may be a better way to

address it. maybe if they went to the district stations for example -- supervisor avalos: it makes sense to me if it goes to the district stations, if stations have someone who is a point person on responding to those issues. taking those calls, in particular, would be helpful. it really makes a person calling and wonder whether it is helpful to do so. then it gets to the point where 311 is just there to come pick up the stuff and not do anything else, then we are just responding and reacting, and are not being proactive about how we can deal with the issue. >> certainly, we do not want to do anything that would discourage people from reporting illegal dumping that they see, particularly if it is in progress. we want to identify those who are doing it and you want to

pursue civil actions and send a strong signal. there is certainly room for improvement. that will be our discussion with the police on how we can better do that. we will certainly take the suggestions of having these calls go to the districts, instead of dispatch. supervisor avalos: i have a couple of questions. first, i will see if my colleagues have questions, and then from the public we will hear some things we can respond to as well. supervisor mar: i wanted to thank you for the great presentation. the photographs really show industrial dumping as a huge problem. even residential on the sides of the corners, also. it is horrifying, the phobos, but i appreciate the strategy that your department and you have put together to try to address the issues, but i can see the challenges of

enforcement. also, with a huge reduction in staffing, it makes it challenging. i just wanted to add that i think the public awareness and community education is a critical part. i know that on the poster that is here, my guess is that is widely posted in bus shelters and adds, but can you talk about the community education strategy, especially that it is up to a $1,000 fine, if you are caught illegally dumping, but what kind of community education are you doing? >> right now, we are predominantly working through our social media, through facebook, twitter, through our web site, through community meetings that we go to. for this campaign, we have not had a budget to do the larger public service announcements on bus shelters and elsewhere. we did that -- i don't know, maybe a year-and-a-half or two years ago, an anti-littering

campaign, which focused on the largest items that were found in the litter audit. we may try to embark on something like that again. friendly, it is not clear to me how effective those kinds of campaigns really are. i think to the supervisor newsletters and community meetings and town hall you have, they help that. we are trying to do more door- to-door outreach through our grant and in partnership with the department of environment, but i welcome thoughts on how to better get that message out. one suggestion the supervisor avalos had was rather than using in search in the garbage bills we have is to put hangar's right on the garbage cans, particularly if we see things illegally dumped, but to have recology hang hangers on the garbage cans. everybody sees those. supervisor avalos: the other

thing was helping people divide up the waste stream as well. >> we are open to ideas on how to better get the message out to people about this. supervisor mar: i will make sure my office is strongly promoting the different campaigns because i think this is important throughout the city. i also wanted to say that i think the public relations materials and community outreach stuff is good because it gets the reader to accept their own responsibility in keeping the neighborhood claim, but also points out a neighborhood resources like bulky item collection, which i used recently, which i thought was really well done and very effective. thank you for the great work and strategies, but i know how challenging it must be for you. supervisor avalos: great. thank you for your presentation. we will follow up with more questions after members of the public speaker. i have a few cards. four cards or three cards i will call forward.

[reading names] please come forward. >> supervisors, i speak as president of a new mission terrace improvement association. this is in district 11, in close proximity to district 7, 8, and 9, right there alongside balboa park. we have escaped the worst that you see that has plagued district 10, and i'm sure you will hear more about that, but district 10 with the massive illegal dumping of hazardous waste, but we see the common stuff that you see every day. this morning, when i walk my wife of to bart to go to work, you could see electronic stuff abandoned on street corners. it is not just the people moving out at the end of the month. it is a question of an incremental problem. what i would like to focus on are a couple of other items. first, i thought the presentation was excellent, and i appreciate the job that the people of 311 and dpw are doing.

it makes a big difference to know that somebody out there in the city is trying to get a structured response to this problem. i would also like to say that in my neighborhood, we do not have just one language. i would like to see materials available to the neighborhood association to pass out that are in chinese or spanish. for example, that would make a difference. it would also be and out reach so that people would understand that you do share a sense of community and that the barrier is not language. with regard to the idea of community is trying to clean up, in district 7, alongside circular avenue, neighbors in the sunny side have recently been working to clear out debris. this is several weekends they have been doing this. condoms, tires, heights, bottles, cans. this is a neglected area, and

they are trying to focus on getting the community organization to do something. this has been done by people in my community. this has also been done -- neighborhood cleanup is inspired by individuals. there is one immediately opposite the library on third street. i would say that the communities are there and are waiting for a response. the idea of trying to reach out to inform them is a great idea. after that, i also think that recology should try to find a way to help people clear out their basements. again, so we do not have this continuing problem. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker please.

>> hello. thank you so much for elevating this important topic. i'm a member of district 11, resident for about two years, and i probably am solely responsible for the jump in no statistics about the number of calls the increase -- the jump in your statistics about the number of calls that increased. district 11, as you may know, or my section of it at the crossroads -- highway 280 is there, but it is primarily residential districts. it is easily accessible for everyone. a lot of parking, demonstrates, adjacent to freeways. there are items that allow easy access for parking and dumping. on my section here, i know it is limited time. i wanted to focus on some items that i had, and i guess i will just name them -- recology large item pick up made not be getting notice to some

residents. recology certificates for proper disposal. on any given month, the time just before the month and always appears to be really heavy foot traffic dumping. maybe when a tenant takes a resident in building, perhaps they are given a free major dam certificate provided to them so that they are not only able to take advantage of something, but it also involves the building owner to help negotiate the time and perhaps the space to pick that up. there are many residents throughout the city that have apartments in basements. i'm convinced that often the city is not aware of that, so i do not think those buildings have proper amounts of dumping in their bins. i would ask that the city sent out reminders to business owners. something that was said earlier, to educate and remind business

owners the penalty for using city canceled business-generated trash -- [bell rings] supervisor avalos: actually, i like you to go over more of the points because i think there are some really good ideas you have on this list. >> i was recommending a change in process. i walk to bart a lot, and a number of the drivers are nice enough to wait because they see me helping out with the cup. in problem areas, they park their vehicle and walked and what is my recommendation. oftentimes you really cannot see it. cars are parked in front of it. you are dealing with traffic, and i think if you get out and look, you will probably be able to pick out a lot of things that we are calling in. perhaps the city could figure out a way to offer some rewards for people to potentially come forward and id some of the trash dumping issues and perhaps people involved.

obviously, we all want to educate and have a sense of community here, and i think part of that is educating so that we all understand what we want to live by and how we want our city to look to remind people and also remind people of the penalties in the in for their responsibility of living in the city. perhaps also the city could consider a special permit process so that when they are done with the job, they know what their responsibilities are. the city knows what their responsibilities are. they are deriving income from their work, so as a society, we have to rely on them to use proper recycling and disposal procedures. the sign age we are able to get from the city is quite helpful. there are little placards in multiple languages. in some real hot spots, it would be nice if the city had a little better -- offered a little more help for us to get them on

census. they are plastic. they did not say really well. it would be nice to have more permanent fixtures in some areas of the city. supervisor avalos: i would like to give these copies so they can review it and come forward again, but i'm looking at 12, and i have just gone this morning to the muni bart station in balboa park, and i went with the mayor, and i had been watching some of the garbage that had been there over the past week. i did not call in because i knew i was going to go by there with the mayor. it was terrible to see that the same garbage that i saw there on thursday at the boarding area was still there. but it certainly gave a strong impression about what we have in terms of the refuse lined up

along the major trends that have in our district. i thank you for your recommendations. next speaker please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm also on the hillside community police advisory board to -- the eagle site -- the ingleside community police advisory board. you will get an update from each district captain. they do not like to dispatch from the station. they want to get the complaint to the 0123 if it is appropriate. the dispatcher would have to decide whether garbage is an important issue for the police officers. i tis a conversation that we need to have. but we can enumerate many areas,

especially in my district, where garbage is dumped. for instance, yesterday morning, i went to get my newspaper, and sure enough, after we talked about it on saturday, somebody dumped a big bag of garbage right across the street from my house. this is not amazon hard for mclaren park or balboa park station. somebody just toss it out -- tossed it out. if you go to amazon park tuesday morning, probably before 7:00, you will see that the garbage cans and big garbage cans are overflowing. tuesday is the day that they pick up garbage. people inevitably are going and dumping their garbage in parks.

mandel is notorious for having illegal garbage dump on the street. i just wanted to win my comment on this issue. anything we can do, and we do have a close relationship with dpw, anything we can do to get to our members -- i do want to make one more point, and this is not an issue, but it was brought up saturday about when you call 311, sometimes, those agents will give you a phone number to call. i have stressed it over the past, i think, eight years that we have had 311. 311 is a call center that is supposed to intake all issues. i have told my members many times not to let the agent give them a number. supervisor avalos: i think the best place for that to happen is in the police advisory ãon.

>> and we can make that a public service -- you know, psa basically. supervisor avalos: thank you. oh, i did not see you. >> hello. i am from district 10, grew up in district 10, and there are three things i see that could help. through the community education -- do you remember when there was a campaign on it out where if you saw someone litter, you pointed out, and the person would pick it up. the community has to buy into it. i think the communication is great. we need cameras. we bought a new home. we all want to take care of where we live, but we must have some modern technology because there are some people -- we have

a new homeowners, people that just do not get it, and people just like the person that dumped their bag of garbage, which i think was maliciously done, done intentionally, but also, i want to say dpw has been great to district 10. i see the trash. i can show you ever wear it is most of the time, and they are always out there. but because of the budget cuts, that is where we are having a human this problem. also, i need to say our police department has been absolutely great. i call them. i do not let 311 give me a phone number. that is a very good point. they are there to do intake and fined up with the issue is. i have found sometimes you have to call and follow up, but they are very good. our police the poorman will discuss people and have them come out there. i will tell them where i am if i have to, but sometimes, i do not have to be there. i think it is three things -- community awareness. get the public to buy into it,

and through shame, it can be done. and through awareness. that is what the police informant, working with them, going to -- our problem is a little different out there because it is for a minute. it is sad to say, but i thought we were the only one that had that have a problem. but we are not. in the beginning, everyone used bayview hunter's point for a dumping ground. i am glad you are addressing this problem. thank you very much. if you ever need my help, you know i am active in the bayview. supervisor avalos: thank you for coming in. are there any other members of the public who like to comment? seeing none, we will close public comment. we had two city departments that are here.

perhaps just a question. i have seen there was a lot of effort that was done last year with the jobs now program to do work around energy efficiency, and i'm wondering if there is any program that has been in place with the has been a public awareness campaign, the going door-to-door or sharing information and out reach around how to deal with illegal dumping or informing the public about proper use of disposal. i think the microphone at sea of -- the microphone next to you is the one working. >> we do have a version going to businesses that do not have services. it is currently ongoing. supervisor avalos: is that done

throughout the city? >> yes, it is. we get a list from recology that says with the businesses are, and we go through the systematically. we also go door-to-door in the bayview. supervisor avalos: if there is resources to do it, maybe it is looking at resources that we currently do not have. it might be a good thing to do to take it on the road to different parts of the city. the hot spots are pretty dispersed, but there are probably times when it happens more than others. if you can envision finding that kind of funding or even having the current funding, i would love to talk to you more about it offline. >> certainly. supervisor avalos: great. thank you. i think we have representatives from the district attorney's office. thank you for coming out today. >> thank you, mr. chairman,

members of the committee. i want to emphasize that the district attorney is very committed to this issue and also to prosecuting environmental science in the city. i am the assistant district attorney in the environmental crimes unit. these cases present particular challenges that the director has identified. what we can do as a prosecutor is, of course, stop the kind of by arresting the irresponsible parties and punish those parties that are particularly responsible for the larger dumps in the city. more importantly, to address the issues is the deterrence. if we can identify and prosecute large impact dumpers in the city, that will send a message to others that this is simply not conduct that can take place. it is not the price of doing business when someone faces the prospect of criminal punishment, a company or an individual.

it is a powerful deterrent. the challenge to these types of cases is identifying the responsible party. it is not like street crime where you would normally have witnesses and victims. it is different from other types of white collar crimes. we have identified witnesses and paper trails. hear, typically, this is done in the middle of the night in less populated areas of the city, so the real challenge is identifying the parties that are responsible, identifying witnesses and interviewing them immediately, securing evidence, and preventing contamination of evidence before the case becomes difficult to prosecute. the difficulty in prosecuting these cases has been compounded by the institutional problems, and that is that the district attorney's office has not been informed of these incidents, so we cannot respond to the scene. we do not have to rely upon the

sanford's is the police apartment, and for environmental crimes, we have investigators that are trained to do investigation. prosecutors will be on the scene. one issue that i want to suggest is that the department's public works -- the department of public works more promptly notify our office for any kind of dom's involving hazardous material. we have not in the past been promptly notified of these incidents -- supervisor avalos: i think the d.a.'s office can help us if we do have the situation we were identifying, dumping happening on the spot. maybe he could help us work out what is a good coordination. there is a fear we have that has been corroborated that if you're going to call and get a police officer report, you are likely to not get a response. i'd like that to change. i think it would be really important for the d a's office to be part of that process.

maybe we could continue this item to the call of the chair and come back in a couple of months and have that issue worked out. >> i agree that this is something we can work on in the meantime. simply sitting down getting names, e-mail addresses, contacts, so that people can be immediately informed and that there be faces associated with names, but more broadly, across city departments and other state agencies as well, that we can coordinate the investigation and much more effectively prosecute these types of cases when they arrive and get around the difficulty of an overwhelmed police department that may not give this top priority, but also led the police department know that we want to be informed immediately so we can bring in our investigative resources to bear. those are our suggestions. between now and the next hearing

on this, i will personally meet with dpw and other city departments to try to set up some contacts and infrastructure so we can address this more meaningfully. supervisor avalos: thank you. appreciate your presence. lastly, just want to call up the representative from recology, and i think you have some materials to address this issue of dumping and disposal. maybe you could just share with that really quick, and then we will end our hearing. >> thank you very much, supervisors. we have developed, along with the department of public works and department of the environment, materials that we send out to the public. one of which we call our wonder mailer because it is when you wonder what to do with all the stuff that does not go into our -- that black, blue, or green bin.

it lists quite a few resources as to what to do with fluorescent light bulbs, paint, and that sort of thing. we also have a little brochure about the recycle my job program, which is mainly residential. we do provide it to small business, also, a charge. for residents, it is twice a year service, and it outlines what could be put in their -- in there, and i'll give you copies. lastly is a general brochure that we send out also, and it is what to do with the blue, green, black container, and it colleco household hazardous waste materials. recology's position is there really is no reason to illegally dumped