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CITY OF
SANTOSE
CAPITAL OF SILICON VALLEY
COUNCIL AGENDA 05/03/16
ITEM 5.1 7.1
Memorandum
TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM:
Mayor
Sam
Liccardo
Vice Mayor
Rose Herrera
Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco
Councilmember Johnny Khamis
Councilmember Raul Peralez
SUBJECT:
APPROVED:
2014-2015 ANNUAL REPORT
ON THE ANTI-GRAFFITI
AND
ANTI-LITTER
PROGRAMS ILLEGAL
DUMPING
INITIATIVE UPDATE
^
DATE:
April
29, 2016
RECOMMENDATION
1.
Accept
the
Status Report
on the City's
Illegal Dumping Mitigation Effort, and
the
2014
2015 Annual
Report
on the Anti-Graffiti and Anti-Litter programs.
2. Direct the City Attorney and City Manager to report back to Council through the 2016-17
Budget Process
to:
a
Determine whether Council can use Integrated Waste Management Fund
or
other
sources for supplemental
use in
staffing and
response to
illegal
dumping
and
litter issues,
particularly for coordination of
volunteer
efforts, and offer cost estimates and options;
b. Determine
the
cost
and
process for
implementing
the development of
an
anti-
graffiti/anti-illegal
dumping
reward program
that
will pay
up to
$1,000
for each tip that
leads to arrests or fines levied against graffiti vandals and those caught dumping illegally
within
the
City
of
San
Jose.
3. Regarding illegal dumping,
direct the
City Manager
to
report back
to the
City Council
as
part of the
2016-17
Budget Process, through
a
Manager's
Budget
Addendum,
or
where more
time is needed,
return
to theTransportation and Environment Committee andNeighborhoods
Commission in the
Fall
with the
following:
a. Explore alternatives for the time and day of the pro-active pick-ups in targeted illegal
dumping focus areas;
Identify costsand potential funding sources
for a
second compactor truck and
for a
driver
to increase efficiencies
with
large scale illegal dumping clean
ups;
Explore additional services to handle illegally dumped bio-waste
as a
resource available
to all departments;
b.
c.
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COUNCIL AGENDA: 5-03-16
ITEM:
5.1 7.1
Page
2
d.
Explore opportunities to
work
with external partners of the City Manager's Data
Analytics
Team
and of the Mayor's Office of Strategic Partnerships
and
Innovation to
leverage
behavioral
insights to
reduce illegal
dumping;
and
e. Assess and report progress through the development of metrics that specifically capture
direct
impact,
and
not
merely work
performed.
4. Regarding graffiti,
direct
the City Manager to report
back to
the
City
Council as part of the
2016-17 Budget Process, through
a Manager's
Budget Addendum, or where more time is
needed, return to the Public Safety Finance & Strategic Support Committee and
Neighborhoods Commission
in the Fall
with the following:
a Determine whether the City Manager can execute
a shared data
agreement with
Graffiti
Protective
Coatings
(GPC)
to
enable reports of
graffiti
on businesses and private
property
to
simultaneously
flow to the tip submit line with
SJPD and
to
Code
Enforcement;
b. Assess
the
cost of restoring the City's prior commitment to address graffiti complaints
within 48 hours, and how that might affect the response metrics on page 9 of the Staff
report;
c. Assess and report progress through the development of metrics that specifically capture
direct impact, and not
merely work
performed.
DISCUSSION
We commend the teams of
City
staff,
San
Jose
State University
students
and
staff, maintenance
staff
and
Neighborhood Commission
volunteers that
have
been
collaborating on ideas
and
methods
for
responding
to
illegal dumping and
graffiti
in our City, and for their thoughtful and innovative
work
in
helping
increase efficiencies and
response
times to
blight
in our community.
We continue to hear
frequent
complaints about illegal dumping in our City. It
is
the #1
work
plan
item for the Neighborhoods
Commission, and
was listed as one of
the
top
fiv
issues in
the
2016
Community Budget Priority Setting exercises,
with 60%
of
residents
requesting an
increase in
funding to combat illegal dumping.
Rewards
for
tips
In 2013 and 2014, the Office of Councilmember Khamis began discussing
a reward
program
targeting graffiti vandalism and copper wire theft. They had identified Silicon Valley Crime
Stoppers
to
administer
the
program,
and kept the SJPD and
CHP up-to-date on
their
efforts.
Unfortunately, an agreement
could
not
be
put to the local Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers board
members for approval. That being said, Crime Stoppers should
still
be involved
in
discussions in
case the opportunity arises for
a
partnership with them. We now propose that
the
City
take the
idea,
modify
it to
cover
graffiti vandalism and illegal dumping (instead of copper wire theft), and look
for
ways to administer the program. With
a
reward program that leads to the capture and recovery
of costs from graffiti vandals and those who are dumping illegally, we can make catching
these
vandals worthwhile for everyone.
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COUNCIL AGENDA:
5-03-16
ITEM 5.1 7.1
Page
Staffing and Equipment
We
have only two people and one
over
strength position to respond to service requests Citywide.
Other municipalities in California utilize storm water and integrated waste management fees/funds
for supplemental staffing to respond to illegal dumping. The City Manager
and City
Attorney
should analyze the use
of
these orother funds to restore
some
staffing levels so that our Departments
can
improve
our
responsiveness to
our community.
The
inter-department teams responding to illegal dumping need an additional
compactor
vehicle, as
the single compactor in the City fleet
requires
frequent repairs. For nearly half the year—or more
than 180 aggregate days
in
2014-2015—it remained out of service. Staff
in the
field note
that a
compactor
helps
with illegal
dumping
pick-ups and
in
large
scale clean-ups, such as
creek
clean
ups.
Teams
can
cover
up
to four times times
more
area with a compactor before
emptying
a vehicle.
Resources to handle bio waste
We
hear increasing complaints of the illegal dumping of bio-waste in parking lots, on side streets,
in parks and along creek trails. Our residents
and
business owners are calling, often very frustrated
that there
isn't
a
single
number
to
call or
a
single department responsible that handles
this type
of
illegally dumped item. Our line staff lacks the equipment and/ or training
to
handle these types of
illegally dumped bio-hazards. Some
business
owners along theMonterey Road /1
st
Street,
and Santa
Clara Street / Alum Rock Avenue corridors report that
it
can easily cost
over
$1,000
per
incident to
have
a
third
party handle
the
bio-waste. Having
a
coordinated
effort to quickly
and rapidly
remove
honey buckets
and other illegally dumped bio-waste will help maintain our quality of life and
will
help
protect the health and safety of our
employees.
Pro active
services based on more data
Through
the
partnership with Trimble Navigation
and
CommUniverCity,
San
Jose has demonstrated
how rapid prototyping and partnerships can leverage data to change our service delivery models.
The collaborative
work
produced
a
data set focused on locations that allowed us
to
develop pro
active routes for our haulers
to
pick up illegally dumped items. Constituents
in
the three target areas
appreciate
the
improved service, but also note that
a
significant amount
of
illegal dumping occurs
over
the
weekend, especially
on the first
Sunday
of
each month, after many tenants tend
to
move-in
or move-out. DOT, ESD and other programs should track data and consider recurrences
in
location
as
well
as
the
day
and
time of the month
so
that we can direct our haulers to be more efficient in
their staffing levels for proactive sweeps with an eye towards service day as well as peak locations.
Behavior Change
The City Manager's Data Analytics Team is working with the Behavioral Insights Team as
part
of
the
City's
participationin Bloomberg Philanthropies' What Works
Cities
Initiative, to develop an
outreach
strategy for
encouraging
use of
free
large-item
collection
services for
Single-Family
Dwellings. We
expect results
from
the
study by August
2016,
that will inform
the
design of
future,
city-wide messaging
for
free large-item
collection
hauling services.
We
appreciate
all
the innovation and
collaboration
happening between Departments, SJSU,
Neighborhoods Commission, and volunteers.
We
have begun to move the needle on this vexing
problem, and have seen
promising
results. More work
awaits us.
