Newsom kicks off $1B statewide trash, graffiti cleanup bid, with final stop in L.A.
Gov. Gavin Newsom wrapped a daylong “cleaner California tour” in Los Angeles, on Wednesday after spending the day touting the state’s new $1.1 billion plan to erase trash and graffiti from highways, roads and other public spaces, an effort he said will beautify the state and create up to 11,000 jobs. The governor also made stops in the Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley to promote his program.
“It’s not just about litter, it’s about beautification,” Newsom said. “We want to beautify the space.”
Newsom hosted the Southern California media event — his third of the day after appearances in Richmond and Fresno — under the 110 Freeway on West Washington Boulevard on Wednesday evening, joined by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Toks Omishakin, director of the California Department of Transportation.
At-risk youth and people who were formerly homeless or formerly incarcerated will be given priority for the jobs created by the three-year program. In the last week, 400 people have already been hired or offered a job, Newsom said.
“I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, rich or poor,” Newsom added, “we all express the same frustration when we drive around the state and see garbage in the streets.”
The cleanup comes amid growing debate over homeless encampments that have sprouted under highway overpasses and near freeway exit and entry ramps throughout California in the past few years.
The encampments have grown during the pandemic, and many are filled with sofas, mattresses and other items used by the unhoused people who live there.
The Clean California program funds, however, are not allowed to be used to displace such people experiencing homelessness, state officials said.
An estimated 161,000 people are experiencing homelessness in the nation’s most populous state, more than in any other.
Advocates say they can’t house people quickly enough amid a severe shortage of housing units and sky-high rents.
Newsom said the state is working to do more for individuals experiencing homelessness. “There’s no compassion in stepping over someone on the street,” he said.
Earlier in the day, a federal appeals court heard arguments, but made no ruling in the city and county of Los Angeles’ bid to vacate a judge’s order forcing local government to offer shelter to every homeless person on Skid Row by the middle of October.
U.S. District Judge David Carter issued the mandatory injunction in April, ordering that all homeless inhabitants of Skid Row must be offered some form of shelter by Oct. 18, starting with single women and unaccompanied children. The city and county immediately requested that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issue a stay pending appeal.
The hearing was part of a lawsuit brought in March 2020 in federal court by the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, an association of downtown residents, homeless individuals and property owners seeking to compel local government to find shelter for the thousands of people camping on city sidewalks.
Last week, L.A.’s City Council voted in favor of a measure that would ban homeless encampments from sidewalks and some other areas. Activists condemned the measure as criminalizing homelessness; backers of the effort denied that contention. The measure faces a second vote, likely later this month.
The Democratic governor, who faces a recall election this year, pointed out Wednesday that he has proposed $12 billion to get more people experiencing homelessness off the streets and into homes of their own.
Caltrans is responsible for maintaining many of the roadways but has struggled to keep up recently. Newsom’s office said Caltrans collected 270,000 cubic yards of trash in 2020 — enough to load 18,000 garbage trucks.
Newsom said the biggest single investment the state previously made to remove litter from public spaces was $110 million.
John Cox, a Republican candidate for California governor, campaigned in Fresno hours earlier with an 8-foot ball of trash he uses to tout his homelessness plan, which calls for forcing homeless people into mental health or addiction treatment before providing them with housing.
The beautification plan will be a partnership with cities and counties, which will receive one-third of the money in grants, the governor said.
“Those dollars will be leveraged well beyond a billion-dollar state investment because we’re going to leverage local dollars with a matching program,” he said.
Beyond cleanup, the effort is also about adding art to public spaces, Newsom said.
“It’s not just about addressing encampments. It’s also about leaving something behind, beautifying the landscape and looking at art components” such as murals, he said.
Newsom first announced a $1.5 billion Clean California initiative in May, but the Legislature decreased the funding to $1.1 billion in the final budget the governor signed last month.