Doing a lot with litter
L.A. council aide a ‘Superman’ at picking up trash
Luis Hurtado’s nickname is Superman, earned for his ability to pick up heavy items.
Hurtado, an aide to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez, doesn’t lift tall buildings or burning cars, but instead tackles discarded dressers, abandoned couches and broken toilets.
Among the hundreds of employees who work for the 15-member City Council, Hurtado is believed to be the only aide whose position is solely dedicated to picking up trash.
In a city where grimy sidewalks and littered streets are part of the landscape, that’s no small task.
Five days a week, Hurtado dons a green Dickies jumpsuit and work boots to sweep up cigarette butts and bag piles of discarded clothes along the streets and boulevards of District 6, which includes the neighborhoods of Sun Valley, Van Nuys and Arleta.
Hurtado, 30, drives a white pickup assigned to Martinez’s office, circling the district each day to look for trash.
Cruising through Van Nuys on a recent morning, he stopped to rake up gum wrappers, newspapers and plastic cups piled up on the sidewalk like confetti.
In Arleta, Hur-
hauled off a broken dresser left on the side of the road, gracefully sliding the large piece onto the back of his truck and tying it up in a matter of minutes.
On another morning, he targeted an abandoned cart with a “United States Postal Service” sticker and questioned its hefty weight as he carried it toward the truck.
“Oh, yay, it’s concrete,” he said, smiling.
Discarded goods are supposed to be picked up by the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, but the department can’t keep up with the constant stream of illegal dumping and discarded refuse.
A 2014 city memo reported that the streets, alleys and empty lots of Los Angeles are so dirty with trash that some neighborhoods are in a “constant state of uncleanliness.”
The report blamed residents and businesses for dumping debris and the city for failing to enforce antidumping laws.
Martinez hired Hurtado in 2104 amid a campaign to make illegal dumping a top priority in her San Fernando Valley district.
“Community pride and community cleanliness was something that I was going to focus on,” Martinez said.
Facing constituent complaints, other City Council offices have also launched programs targeting trash.
After taking office in 2013, Councilman Curren Price focused on illegal dumping in alleys in his South L.A. district, which has one of the highest concentrations of altado leys in the city.
Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, whose district includes Hollywood, also has a staffer who picks up trash and organizes community walks.
In Pico-Union and Westlake, Councilman Gil Cedillo launched a cleanup program that included educating residents about using the city’s 311 system for bulky pickups.
Cedillo’s program also sought to discover if the discarded trash was due to bad habits, homelessness, or other factors.
Hurtado has his own theories on why the city’s streets and sidewalks are magnets for trash.
“People who illegally dump, they think, ‘I’m going to throw it out on the curb and it’s going to magically disappear,’ ” he said.
A single parent, the Sylmar resident was unemployed before being hired by Martinez.
“This job has blessed me with many opportunities to provide for my four children,” said Hurtado, who earns $39,108 annually.
Robert Mercado, Arleta Neighborhood Watch captain, said there’s been a noticeable difference since Hurtado started working for Martinez.
“Our streets are so much better, so much cleaner,” Mercado said. “You can see the difference from other areas when you come into my community. It’s welcoming.”
Inspired by Hurtado, Councilman Herb Wesson assigned two staffers to trash cleanup in District 7 in the San Fernando Valley. (The councilman is the caretaker of the Valley district until incoming representative Monica Rodriguez takes over.)