CLEANUP OF DEAD ANIMALS TAKES LONGER IN SOME SAN DIEGO NEIGHBORHOODS, DATA SHOW

It takes the city of San Diego about two weeks to clean up complaints of dead animals on the street, according to city data since 2016, but the wait time is nearly double in some neighborhoods.

Cleanup crews take almost one month to respond in Tierrasanta, Normal Heights and Carmel Mountain Ranch, the data show.

Some 16,300 removal requests were submitted to city workers through San Diego’s “Get It Done” portal since May 2016. Almost 2,300 of those were referred to outside agencies like the San Diego Humane Society or Metropolitan Transit System.

Anna Vacchi Hill, the city’s acting communications program coordinator, said the Environmental Services Department responds to all requests submitted through the “Get It Done” portal when animal remains are found on city streets and sidewalks.

Dead animals found on private property, or in canyons and other natural areas, are not removed.

The remaining 14,000 requests were handled by San Diego city staff members. The data show the average request for removal of deceased animals on or around city streets was resolved in 14 days.

However, 110 requests from the Tierrasanta community planning district that were submitted over the past 51⁄2 years took an average of 30 days to close, according to the data.

That was the longest response time among all planning districts with more than 100 requests.

The 200-plus requests in Normal Heights took an average of 26 days to remedy, data show. Carmel Mountain Ranch recorded the next-longest response rate with an average of 20 days, and Scripps Miramar Ranch came in at 19 days.

Vacchi Hill said the wait times are skewed by requests submitted in earlier years and those bear no bearing on the current response time.

“To most accurately answer the question of how long it takes to resolve these issues, it would be appropriate to use (the last year), or even the last threesix months,” she said.

Data show the citywide average for requests submitted since 2019 was two weeks — the same average found over the past 51⁄2 years. In 2019 alone the average wait time jumps to nearly 31 days.

In 2020, the average decreased to six days. Data show it took the city less than two days to clean up roadkill this year.

The work-order process has been streamlined in recent years, decreasing wait times and improving how city workers respond to requests and enter data when cases are resolved, Vacchi Hill said.

In Normal Heights, the areas along Adams Avenue