*It was heartbreaking to receive the text in July 2026. It was from a woman who said she lived on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles. She texted me because she had heard about the war I had waged for several months against the soaring levels of illegal garbage dumping, almost exclusively on streets and alleys in South Los Angeles. This is a low-income, almost exclusively Black and Hispanic section of the city.
For weeks I stood at various street garbage dump sites and demanded that L.A. city officials clean up and clean out the garbage—and keep it clean. I made proposals for tough enforcement of the anti-dumping laws and the creation of a special task force to monitor and clean up immediately any dump piles. I demanded a shake-up in the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation which was tasked with garbage pick-up and removal.
The woman who texted me had heard about my effort. She was blunt in her complaint about garbage piling up on Skid Row. The residents there are a tragic collection of the poorest, most destitute, and most down and out individuals. Many are afflicted by chronic drug, alcohol, substance abuse, and have serious physical and mental health challenges. Now they were confronted by piles of garbage strewn throughout the area. This presented a major safety, health and environmental danger.
I was not surprised by her complaint. During a two-month period that I continually challenged L.A. city officials and Bureau administrators to clean up and clean out the illegal street-dumped garbage, I discovered one appalling fact. L.A. was not the only city plagued with illegal street garbage dumping. Nearly every major American city wrestled with the problem.
This was Los Angeles. But it’s not unique. The fight for safe and sanitary streets is a national plague. The health, safety, and environmental anger posed by the mounting garbage pile ups on the streets of many of America’s city streets is enormous.
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There is a double standard in garbage and sanitation services. Black and Hispanic, low income, neighborhoods streets are the dumping grounds for waste and garbage. It is clearly a race and class issue.
Many residents and environmental groups have waged furious battles to get city and county officials to provide the sanitation services they pay for but are denied.
Yet the problem continues to pose a colossal health hazard to millions of Americans. The call to action is urgent.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is Trump’s Obama Obsession” (Amazon ebook and Middle Passage Press). He hosts the weekly news and issues commentary radio show, The Hutchinson Report, Wednesdays, 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST, at ktymgospel.net
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