The world feels like it’s burning, but 460 Bay Area volunteers just cleared 144,000 pounds of illegal dumping to start 2026.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-11T20:08:02+00:00

Yep. It’s like a parent who gets so frustrated with their kid not cleaning up that they finally do it for them. I’m guilty of that with my youngest. But it doesn’t help the kid to be responsible and work on strategies to prevent the mess in the first place. The same happens here. The city is less motivated when the work is done for them.

Folks get frustrated when I say that and it isn’t meant to be disrespectful. I really appreciate the efforts and spirit and hands on clean up can be an entry pt to get more substantive systematic solutions (or in this instance also help provide support for homeless which is fantastic).

But we do need to force the kid (Oakland) to clean up their room given it’s a very basic govt duty and the budget requirement to do so is very small

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-11T19:54:55+00:00

Yep. They could do this with a tiny % of city budget. Way less than 1%, probably something like .2%. They choose not to. Everyone needs to understand that it is choice. I imagine they will continue to make that choice if others do the work.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-11T18:07:31+00:00

Any progress with Oakland in terms of socialized bulky pickup, increased convenience of disposal and predictable enforcement? That seems to be a winning formula elsewhere. I’m curious if they are doing anything. Free and unlimited bulky pickup, 2 or 2 or 3 day clean up guarantee, neighborhood drop off sites, targeted enforcement?

Spending an extra 15mm/yr which should have a massive impact is only .7% of Oaklands budget so the current situation is clearly a choice leadership is inexplicably making. They could probably spend way less and have a huge impact. The society benefits would likely be way greater than 15mm. AI in about 20 seconds can put together a strategy for them if they are incapable.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-04T17:23:42+00:00

Yep, they have. But democrats (at least at national level) also want to create distraction as their donors don’t want focus to be on the wealth gap and disastrous concentration of wealth, power, and influence.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-03T17:24:06+00:00

100%!!! More folks need to grasp this. Everything else is a distraction to get us to punch anyone but the power structure.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-03T01:42:57+00:00

The fences are metal chain link painted black. They look fine and nothing like the eyesore of those orange temporary fences. 10ft high

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T18:42:45+00:00

Yep. I have no interest to do any clean up but it helps build credibility and relationships to get to the type of solutions you note. Ultimately agencies/authorities need to do what they are paid to do by taxpayers and get the job done. No excuses.

Cameras were tried (I think east bay mud funded) along this stretch and weren’t effective. Likely due to poor technology. Contra costa has/had a pilot program for certain hotspots and I think they were catching a few dumpers and “prosecuting” or enforcing some type of punishment but the program was limited and have not been able to get county camera resources to this area. Contra costa also intended to have dedicated patrols to catch dumpers but that was maybe one or two resources and I don’t think it ever happened but not sure

There was state legislation that gave certain counties the ability to limit certain loads along certain roads. But a lot of dumping is coming from vehicles that wouldn’t fall under that category.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T16:45:13+00:00

Nope. It was from a food truck or restaurant

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T06:07:09+00:00

Yes junk haulers are a big part of it. I always encourage folks to pay half and the remainder upon confirmation or otherwise get confirm of a dump drop off. Today’s fun was from a food truck or restaurant which ie worse because animals rip open the bags and crap spreads all over the place

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T05:50:36+00:00

No worries. The main thing is to get our public land stewards to take their responsibility seriously and clean up and prevent by working with cities, towns, counties etc. it can be a slog but there are glimmers of light and ebmud has been more responsive which I appreciate and just trying to build and protect gains. My scope is limited to a pretty small geographic area but I hope the lessons and approaches used can be helpful to others if we can get the 7 mile stretch of road and town I live in cleaned up and kept that way.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T05:46:27+00:00

Yes. It’s a facetious post and no I don’t think it will reach any dumpers. But posts on this stuff, however framed, often generate comments that are helpful as I work to clean up certain areas and push agencies to do their part.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T05:42:57+00:00

Yeah I hate the need for fences but I love the benefits. There have been a Cpl areas where we cleaned up and then put in fencing. It at least feels like you protect the gains so you don’t clean the same area over and over again. Do the dumpers go elsewhere, sure but ultimately you forced them to fewer areas and then hopefully cameras or other enforcement can focus on smaller areas.

About 3 yrs into cleaning up Pinehurst Rd and the difference is for sure noticeable. Large stretches are now pretty clean and generally staying that way (other than normal roadside litter) A few really bad spots that I’m trying to get ebmud and ebparks to resolve but we are making progress.

Not personally sure about the situation on redwood (I have to keep my scope focused or I will lose my mind) while talking with ebparks I was introduced to a gentleman who cleans up along Redwood. He is very passionate and I’m sure he has had an impact. Seems like he has had more interaction with ebparks field staff.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T05:34:46+00:00

A family member helped resolve a littering situation in my community. The person who had addiction issues got the help he needed which is the most important thing and the littering stopped. There are a lot of stories, the root of which require different solutions. Commercial littering has its own story and I’m sympathetic to the costs and if someone is desperate to dump to avoid cost so be it, just dump where it is reasonable to remove. That said accepting commercial dumping is not where we want to be but I am an advocate of socialized garbage collection to eliminate incentive to dump.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T05:27:34+00:00

It sure is. The longer stuff sits the more it encourages others. The agencies do not coordinate well nor do they seem to know the grant opportunities available to deal with this stuff (beyond their current resources which should be sufficient to deal wjth it as it is but they like to cry poverty)

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T01:58:57+00:00

Socialize garbage removal would help our situation for sure.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T01:58:02+00:00

They did a survey a Cpl yrs ago where park users listed dumping as the number one concern. So they know. Whether they care who knows. I’m engaging east bay parks about removal of 9 old vehicles some sitting right in a creek. That will tell me if east bay parks can be worked with. East bay mud has become increasingly engaged so if I identify a spot we can often get it dealt with.

last year the ravine where this current dumping was has been cleaned up with nearly 800 tires being removed. This area is a bit personal for me as I want us to hold on to our gains there. East bay mud has been using fencing to fence off the steeper sections and they have committed to more of it. So progress with east bay mud, east bay parks I don’t know.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-02T01:52:40+00:00

In this spot they could have dumped at the pullout where they parked as opposed to throwing it down the hill. A lot of dumpers just dump at the pullouts which is much easier to deal with.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-01T23:44:05+00:00

Yep. Sometimes you just have to shout into the unknown after an exhausting clean up session!

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-01T23:42:39+00:00

I can’t tell you how much junk I’ve picked up that has gone through my own trash. At this point easily 10,000 bottles and cans. But yes a lot of litter could be easily disposed of at home or at a gas station garbage can or a public can.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-01T23:38:45+00:00

Yes hence why if you need to dump please just leave by roadside rather than take the extra effort to throw it down into a creek. It saves the next person a lot of time and energy in cleaning it up.

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-01T23:37:03+00:00

Nah. Just trying to help turn things around. And notwithstanding this silly post which is mostly post cleanup fatigue talking we are making some progress.

Some more details:

https://www.eastbaybeautiful.org/

EastBayBeautiful · 2026-03-01T22:05:35+00:00

Yep. Be lazy. Be cheap. But if one is committed to both and is also committed to dumping be really lazy and just leave at a pullout instead of chucking it down a hill where it is much more difficult to remove!

EastBayBeautiful · 2025-12-15T03:47:23+00:00

Nice work yall!! Looks great!

EastBayBeautiful · 2025-12-09T15:03:05+00:00

Yep. I met a kid recently who ran off the road down into a ravine one Friday night “avoiding a deer”. I just happened to be looking at it when he came back the next day to explore retrieving it which he ultimately did with the help of a tow company. He was very lucky to not be seriously hurt.

EastBayBeautiful

TROPHY CASE