Make California Post a Preferred Source Someone recently said: “Forget socialism, Nithya. Governing comes down to the basics. Start by picking up the trash.”
In Pacific Palisades, that’s an urgent priority, as residents are slowly rebuilding and moving back.
For years, we’ve paid a great deal into city coffers and wondered how so little made its way back in basic services. After the fire, that old complaint has new urgency.
Debris has piled up along Palisades Drive. Residents have flagged litter in Lower Marquez and overflowing trash cans in the Village. People are spending their savings and years of their lives to rebuild here. They should be able to count on the city to empty a public trash can.
The California Post obtained city records showing Los Angeles crews hauled away 44.2 million pounds of illegally dumped garbage in 16 months. Cleanup cost the city $42 million in 2025 alone. And in parts of South LA and Downtown, three council districts accounted for more than half of the illegally dumped garbage crews collected that year.
The Post reported that during an interview in a South LA alley about illegal dumping, a woman casually tossed an old tire rim into the alley. She did it in plain sight. That’s what happens when people come to expect that a pile will sit there and whoever adds to it will get away with it.
Meanwhile, the monthly trash bill for a single-family home has climbed from $36.32 to $59.53, with more increases on the way. Raman voted for the initial hike. She now has a chance to show Angelenos what they’re getting for the extra money.
How long does it take to clear a reported pile? How many cases get investigated? Can a resident who calls 311 find out when a crew is coming? Those are fair questions when the city can tell you, down to the penny, what you owe.
Juan Naula, who founded Clean LA With Me, told the Post he sometimes pays disposal fees two or three times a week out of his own pocket to get rid of trash his volunteers collect. Earl Ofari Hutchinson said residents started buying bags themselves after being told crews would only take loose trash if it was bagged and tied.
City Hall ought to ask what it costs a resident, in time as well as money, to get one pile of garbage off the block.
Raman should start where the dumping is worst. Put regular crews on the streets and alleys that keep getting hit, give them a schedule residents can see, and give investigators the staffing to follow up when there’s evidence.
In Pacific Palisades, tell us who’s responsible for clearing the trouble spots we’ve already raised with LA Sanitation and when crews will get to them. Do it before the heavy rains, when trash can wash into storm drains and compound the problems we’re already preparing for in a burn scar.
I want this mayor to succeed. In the Palisades, people deciding whether they can come home are looking at what daily life will be like when they get here. In South LA, people have been asking for clean streets while paying the same city to provide them. By the time the next trash bill comes, both should be able to point to a block that’s cleaner because City Hall did its job.
We’ve had two recent visits from senior officials at LA Sanitation. They came to meet with us at the Palisades Recovery Coalition. They pledged to be prepared for El Niño and to do more in the Palisades, knowing what we’ve been through.
I’m glad they came. Now let’s see whether a City Hall focused on making government work can turn those visits into regular service.
Maryam Zar is the founder of the Palisades Recovery Coalition.
