Organized Blocks of Boyle Heights
Organized Blocks Of Boyle Heights/First Blocks of Whittier Boulevard is a GrassRoots organization made up of hundreds of volunteers from all Blocks in Boyle Heights. We have done 20 community clean ups and have collected close to 200,000 pounds or 100 tons of trash.
We also have many wonderful supporters from other communities who have put in the work. The people who live here are tired of the dreadful neglect and lack of resources from the city and the state has not allocated correctly to maintain sufficiently clean streets, storm drains, sidewalks, gutters, parks, freeway offramp and underpasses. The people of our community are being forced out with these conditions. Everyone knows Boyle Heights is on the plate for many corporations and developers. But together we will stop this.
The city by allowing the complete neglect of the community seems to be a strategic gentrification plot to force people out. If this is not the case then these are the solutions.
Stopping illegal dumping is one of the biggest challenges Boyle Heights has and is mixed with the homeless crisis the greatest threat to our community's peace. We have lots of issues related to trash. It’s a tree with many branches.
According to the Documentary “East LA Interchange” Boyle Heights has The largest Freeway Interchange system in North America running through it. The freeways are under the jurisdiction of the state specifically caltrans. We need Extra care and extra attention from caltrans because of this fact and because we are a victim of daily illegal dumping which there’s absolutely no enforcement going on so it’s just gonna happen again tons of trash or dumped on our streets, Freeways, and underpasses without anyone trying to stop it. It then sits there for years and the community has to interact with this reality daily. This needs to change. CALTRANS Should also be having roaming crews that maintain all the legal dumped items on their jurisdiction to pick these automatically daily and to power wash and clean those areas and maintain the vegetation.
Therefore, we support the just released report and suggested solutions from March 24, 2021 by the LA City Controller Ron Galperin. This report is about LAs Illegal Dumping crisis. In it he suggests a $3,000 fine and we the Organized Blocks of Boyle Heights would like to suggest adding in addition to that fine, 20-40 hours of community service to clean freeways as part of restitution. Please see the report
On the City’s side of the issue is also the need for roaming trucks of cleaning crews and sanitation dump trucks to Collect this constant illegally dumped items daily. So the community doesn’t have to call 311 and wait weeks, months, years for things to get picked up.
Our major streets for over 40 years haven’t had any weekly street cleaning. We have an online change.org petition to get ground crew street sweeping on all our major streets. This means people with brooms and scoopers to clean around parked cars (not from the street sweeper truck because our major blocks are over 100 years old And is a mix between businesses and housing often which don’t have any driveways, ally’s nor garages. Because they know this is the case the city decided they can’t force people to move their cars off the street for street sweeping because there was no other option and somehow overtime it just evolved into no street sweeping whatsoever so our major blocks as they have been neglected for 40 years without any type of street sweeping.
Please read, sign and share this petition
https://www.change.org/GroundCrewStreetSweepingBoyleHeights
Other resources we need are enough trash cans, and the sufficient daily and 2 times a day pick up of those trash cans, ground crew street sweeping, and enforcement and increase of illegal dumping fines. The conditions are so bad that the community has been forced to take action. Our community cares about creating a clean, positive, and healthy environment for our children. We have cleaned close to 100 tons or 200,000 pounds of trash in the 19 community clean ups we’ve done since starting on February 15, 2020.
Our group was founded by Veta Gashgai, Jacobo Estrada, and Barbara Martinez in 2019 after there was no support from our Los Angeles Council District representative Jose Huizar and his dysfunctional staff.
We were forced to go to the city departments themselves and a direct relationship was created with the City of Los Angeles Departments of Sanitation and Street Services. In 2019 Sanitation heads led by Roger Duarte, Bladamir Campos, Rene Negrete and Ruben Leon. They came to a meeting at my house with Barbara Martinez who recorded it and from there we’ve had the opportunity to ask for trash cans and secure a dump truck for our community Clean Ups.
We are greatful to Roger Duerte for this but Sanitation is still failing us.
There is still so much red tape bureaucracy and
We have been asking for a meeting with our new CD14 representative Kevin de Leon since he was running his campaign for the position back in January 2020. This failure on his part to meet with our group has created an unnecessary division and tension amongst our group and his office. This could be easily rectified with sincere interest and commitment of mutual respect and care to show the community his work on long-term budget proposals that he has planned and transparency with the budget and his strategy regarding the below issues.
A google slides presentation was started back in 2013 documenting the conditions BH community members suffer. In 2020 more photographic evidence was added documenting 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. We now easily share it on social media directly to the community, other communities, to officials and departments. Please check out this power point documenting over flowing trash cans trash flooded storm drains, and these conditions since 2013 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_Txxd3BdYivZlM0cHBvQlJDT2M/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=popeo
We are making small head way on the trash receptacles supposedly being picked up daily and even twice a day as well as more communal trash cans ALBs as their officially known by. Unfortunately, overflowing trash can conditions still persists exist especially on Cesar Chavez and 7th street. There are so many job opportunities regarding these issues this could be great to help ppl back into the workforce with livable wages.
In 2018 we started attending some BHNC meetings and in 2019 Jacobo and I consistently attending them and with the help of our now TEC chair Brenda Martinez we got a CIS Community Impact Statement created by the Transportation and Environment Committee later voted on and passed by the entire Genral Board in July 2020. This CIS was addressed to the Departments of Sanitation for more communal trash cans more communal trashcan pick ups and Ground crew street sweeping on all the major blocks in Boyle Heights. This has yet to be effectively realized on the ground even after I’ve sent this to the departments and heads and our CD14 reps.
Our group has had the simple and direct mission to empower the community to care for each other by directly taking responsibility. We are cleaning our blocks ourselves. And we are simultaneously putting pressure on the departments and reps to be accountable to our community. We want to create consciousness about protecting the earth and each other. We share information and resources and encourage the community to no longer tolerate the horrific, trashy, unsanitary, and mental health distress causing conditions these streets in Boyle Heights manifest. We want to raise awareness of flooded storm drains and its effects on our oceans.
We make reports and relationships with the different city and state departments and agencies responsible to meet the needs and serve the community efficiently and sufficiently.
We are advocating for long term systematic change to fight the zip code inequality and environmental racism and discrimination in our section of LA.
We advocate for our educational institutions to help inform the community about taking care of nature and work with schools and nonprofits to inspire and expect their natural cooperation in this fundamental social justice issue. A part of this is sharing, promoting and reshaping the community culture and community responsibility with resources that are available to them like the City’s 311 program. We advocate modeling as good neighbors that look out for each other and by direct cleaning of our streets. We’ve created 20 community clean up events since the first on Feb. 15, 2020 where the community involvement is changing and creating a very positive look on our neighborhood. We have picked up close to 200,000 pounds of trash. We know this because of the capacity of the Sanitation trucks that I have been sent to help us with the Clean Ups.
The Founders decided to get boots on the ground after more than 16 years of experiencing a total disregard and neglect towards the conditions of our streets, and an illegal dumping crisis. We decided to take direct action and labor by organizing clean up events by inviting neighbors and networking with other concerned and caring neighbors from the community.
We are more than a cleaning crew, we exist to help create a compassionate connection with our houseless neighbors, we are one of the first and only community groups who works directly with the houseless to help them clean their areas without having to remove them, we do our best to bring some humanity and sanity to their areas and space by cleaning and removing unwanted items and trash.
We have shared, warm food, hygiene care kits, undergarments, blankets, tents, water, brooms, scooper trash bags, masks, gloves and as well advocate for those who are homeless to get long term affordable housing and for those with severe mental health issues to get the real care they need by reopening sufficient numbers of mental health facilities based on restorative care villages model like the one County Board Supervisor Hilda Solis’s has spearheaded at the old LA County- USC model with wrap around services at the Wellness Center.
Drug rehabs with effective models also need to be greatly increased with healthy eating, living and growing plants, counseling, Cultural dance groups or other models like Compadres network Cara Y Corrazon to help restore values of wellness and care with parenting classes to bring our unhoused back into society.
In the meanwhile we advocate and demand the city provide immediate trash services for encampments, solar powered showers and constant cleaning crews to maintain around encampments. There should also be access to outreach workers who have services and vouchers for housing to give. Like Homeboy industries has advocated for the past 25 years, All of this can create Jobs not Jails and follow a model Urban Alchemy has laid By rehabilitating former houseless neighbors and providing jobs $15.00 for needed community clean up crews, security, power washing crews, mental health counselors, and all the other jobs to run rehabs, and mental hospitals in a humane loving and effective way. This will also bring Construction jobs to rehab hospitals and other facilities to be Housing for the severely mentally ill. And to have caring competent facilities for the different levels of mentally ill people.
We also want To hold corporations, property management companies and property owners to be accountable to the community and do their part to maintain their sidewalks, parkways, and gutters free from trash and debris and it would be nice to see planted flowers and sustainable indigenous plants. Negligent corporations here and Boyle Heights have been Dollar Tree, Wingstop, the $.99 store and 7-Eleven and to property management companies that have been negligent are “The Management Company” that’s located in Huntington Park and runs the strip mall on the corner of Whittier and Soto St. Another property management company that’s also negligent it’s called “Fred Leads” property management company located on Boyle Ave. and Whittier Boulevard.
Organized Blocks Of Boyle Heights is depending on being a self-sustaining/ self sufficient group with funding from the care of good hearted individuals who are also extremely tired and frustrated with these conditions. If you are one of those individuals who are tired of living under these conditions and are happy to see the work we are doing, we like to welcome you to please donate to our cause and mission. Your donations allow us to continue to grow and create more powerful tools and systems which are changing the situation in our community.
After your kind pledge, please follow our history by clicking on our hashtag #CLEANBOYLEHEIGHTS and follow us on our social media on Instagram / Facebook as @ FirstBLOCKSOFWHITTIERBLVD - here you will find upcoming clean-up events and updated information on certain areas.
We thank you for your time reading our Go Fund me mission and we hope we can count on you.
Sincerely,
Veta Gashgai President/Founder and
Roberto Mojica :Netta Director of Public Relations
Organized Blocks of Boyle Heights / First Blocks of Whittier Blvd
Committee