The shameful, shameless littering of our roadways
Q I notice that either Pleasant Hill or Concord has determined that the Walnut Creek canal that runs along Interstate 680 between these fair cities is now an official city dump. Can you tell me its hours of operation?
Dave Madsen Pleasant Hill A Oh, gawd. Tell me your comments are in jest.
Q Yes, tongue in cheek. The place LOOKS like a dump, though. Someone has goats eating the weeds, which is nice. Yet, without the weeds, the site looks more inviting to temporary encampments and the trash that comes with them.
Dave Madsen
A Today, we have a rundown on some of our most littered and unkempt roads. Using goats to eat overgrown vegetation can work. A few years ago the Valley Transportation Authority successfully brought in these critters to spruce up an area near Highway 237.
Q There is a stretch of Bailey Road between Highway 101 and McKean Road in San Jose that is loaded with large piles of trash and mattresses. It is disgusting. My wife and I are appalled that people will go out there in the middle of the night and dump that crap. The people doing this know that Bailey is a rural road and no one is watching.
I’m hoping the county can get rid of that garbage before the El Niño rains come and make it more difficult to clean up.
Steve Tidd
A Me, too. Illegal dumping is a huge problem throughout the Bay Area. As soon as crews clean up a spot, more dumping occurs. San Jose and other cities often lack the staff to do routine patrolling of their streets to look for illegal dumping. This past year the city responded to nearly 8,000 service requests, and it has installed as deterrents some cameras and signs.
Q Kirker Pass was cleaned up a few weeks ago after someone complained to you about the trash. Guess what?
Anna Priest Concord
A What? Q It’s been trashed again.
Anna Priest
A Sheesh.
Q I’ve lived in the Alum Rock area of San Jose for 12 years, and it seems like the stretch of Penitencia Creek Road between White and Toyon roads is a haven for folks to dump furniture, mattresses or just large piles of garbage. Since the area is along the creek, people obviously take advantage of the lack of monitoring.
Most of this takes place overnight since new garbage magically appears the next day.
Is there any way to step up enforcement or track down the offenders? Is there a possibility of installing cameras, even fake ones, along with signs, to scare away most?
Robert Yi San Jose A More anti-dumping signs and cameras may be coming. QI noticed over the past few weeks a strange phenomenon. Some invisible force on the ramp from Highway 101 south to Montague Expressway is attracting a lot of coffee cups and soda cans. It’s downright disgusting. Hiran Ganesh
A Cigarette butts are the No. 1 piece of litter. On Monday, readers nominate more roads for the trash list.