Mayor delivers weekly message online

Sampayan discusses trash problem in city

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan delivered his weekly message online on Tuesday and this week focused on trash in the city of Vallejo.

Sampayan wrote his message after seeing trash everywhere as he ran errands around town over the weekend.

“Having personally witnessed this happen, I have wondered what might compel a person to throw their fast food trash out the window of their moving vehicle, and I came up blank,” Sampayan said in a news release. “There simply is no good reason. In the course of 24 hours, I also noticed that someone had taken the time to load their household garbage, old furniture, and mattresses into their vehicle just to dump them off at the edge of the wetlands. It seems as though people’s pride and sense of ownership for our beautiful city has somehow diminished, and it’s truly disheartening.”

Sampayan said that when entering a city, first impressions are everything.

“When new businesses and families come to Vallejo in search of a place to drop their roots, this is not the Vallejo we want them to see, because this is not the Vallejo that we are,” Sampayan said. “It’s a misrepresentation of all the beautiful things and people that Vallejo has to offer.

“The city currently employs six people to conduct clean up around Vallejo,” the mayor continued. “Yes, you read that correctly; only six people. That means there is approximately one person on staff to every 20,000 people to keep our city looking beautiful. Now I know that not all of those 20,000 people litter and some wonderful folks even take it upon themselves to beautify our city by picking up trash and doing larger dump runs at their own expense. I am grateful for them and everyone else who assists in the effort of caring for our city.”

Sampayan reminded residents they are allowed two bulky item (large trash) pickups annually through Recology Vallejo at no additional cost. People can find out more information on the pick-ups at https:// w w w.recolog y.com/recology-vallejo/bulky-items/

“As always, I will leave you with a final reminder that it takes a village, and Vallejo is one of the strongest, most resilient villages that I have ever been a part of. I know together, we can do this,” Sampayan said.