THE HUTCHINSON REPORT: Raman must declare war on illegal dumping in South L.A.

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Contributing Columnist

Three weeks before the Los Angeles mayoral election, I reached out to both mayoral contenders Mayor Karen Bass and Councilwoman Nithya Raman. I asked one question: Will you endorse my recently launched Operation Clean Up South L.A.

A representative from Raman’s campaign called. She promised that Raman would cut a video endorsing the clean up campaign.

A week passed. I waited patiently and hopefully for her campaign to cut the promised video. Unfortunately, a week after her mayoral victory, I’m still waiting.

The Raman campaign’s failure too follow through on its pledge to back the assault on illegal garbage dumping in South L.A. is more proof that the issue is still not getting the serious attention it deserves from city officials. The prime targets of my campaign have been the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, the L A City Council, and the mayor’s office.

Put simply, I have demanded that South L.A. must look like West L.A., Westwood, Woodland Hills and other parts of Los Angeles where if you found a candy wrapper on the ground it would be considered an eyesore and quickly scooped up by sanitation.

By contrast, the mountainous and ubiquitous garbage piles in parts of South L.A. make the area look worse than the poorest Third World cities It mattered little that residents have long written, called and filled out the requisite collection forms and even screamed at city officials to do something about the mess.

In more cases than not, nothing happens. The gross neglect by city officials of this dire hazardous problem and the gaping disparity in service between mostly non-Black, mid- to upper-income West L.A. and largely low-income Black and Hispanic South L. A. has been infuriatingly glaring.

Just to be sure that this isn’t an overreaction and unfair accusation targeting the mayor’s office for not doing its job, I sent emails, posted on social media, recorded a Facebook video and even sent out a press release on the problem. No response.

Not only were the piles still there, they were getting bigger and sprawled over more blocks, often with makeshift homeless encampments abutting them.

So, the perennial question I and many others repeatedly ask is why is this health and safety peril still there? And, more importantly, why does it make numerous social media blasts for city officials to act? This was the question that I asked first Mayor Bass and now Mayor-elect Raman.

Here’s something else Raman should be aware of. A decade ago, the City Council was so fed up with the response to garbage pick-up and trash dumping in South L.A. that it called the city’s sanitation department on the carpet and demanded a report on why there was a disparity in trash pick up in South L.A. compared to other parts of the city.

That was just the start. In the next few years, the problem of garbage in South L.A. and the soaring number of complaints from residents about the problem continued to bedevil city officials. Things were clearly spiraling out of control.

A report by Construction Coverage, a research and product supplier for the building industry, noted in 2022 that L.A. had the dubious distinction of ranking number two nationally in the number of streets that had trash piled up on them. There is no evidence that that dubious distinction has changed since then.

In a report on the issue in 2025, the city controller stated the obvious about the peril.

“Illegally dumping thousands of tons of trash, debris and hazardous wastes on our sidewalks and streets lessens the quality of life in Los Angeles,” the report said.

The City Council’s immediate response was to allocate a $100 reward to anyone reporting illegal dumping. That was a weak, ineffectual, almost laughable response to a critical, even life-threatening, problem.

The sanitation department’s current answer is no better. Its official website encourages citizens to report illegal dumping. The assumption is that the department will send out a crew to clean it up.

What it doesn’t say is when the clean-up will take place.

Some critics point the blame for the problem at the individuals who do the dumping. That’s too easy.

The Los Angeles Department of Sanitation is a public agency. Taxpayers handsomely fund it. Its director rakes in a hefty salary. Other department officials also are paid quite well.

As a public agency, it bears responsibility for ensuring a clean, safe and healthy environment on all city streets. That means taking every step necessary to remove health-threatening trash and garbage dumps on public streets, especially those in South L.A. 

This is where the mayor comes in. She appoints the sanitation department director. She gives direction to departments on policy and practices. She is the top public official who residents look to to protect their interests. Now Mayor-elect Raman has an excellent opportunity to fulfill that duty and expectation.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He hosts the weekly news and issues commentary radio show The Hutchinson Report Tuesdays from 4 to 5 p.m. on KPFK-Pacifica Radio 90.7 FM streamed at kpfk.org.