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Residents gather to clean up community
By LANZ CHRISTIAN BAñES/Times-Herald staff writer
Posted: 11/23/2008 07:51:27 AM PST


Diane and Richard Mond pick up trash Saturday on the corner of Griffin and Taper streets in Vallejo's Country Club Crest. The two came as part of the Church on the Hill, one of several organizations who came together to help clean the Crest, sponsored primarily by Fighting Back Partnership. (Lanz Christian Bañes/Times-Herald) Community members and several organizations cleaned up 12 Dumpsters worth of junk from the Country Club Crest neighborhood Saturday.
"Overall, I can't say anything bad. It's been a really good day," said John Allen, project director for Fighting Back Partnership.

The effort, attended by an estimated 100 to 125 people, was the second such event sponsored by Fighting Back Partnership and Vallejo's Code Enforcement Division and joined by House of Acts, the Bay Area Services Network alumni association and members of the Church on the Hill.

"I feel great," said Mark Little, 19, and a member of the Church on the Hill.

Little said he was inspired by God to help clean up the Crest.

The Crest cleanup coincided with Fighting Back and Code Enforcement's anti-graffiti effort throughout the city, in which Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis and Councilwoman Stephanie Gomes participated, said Tony Pearsall, executive director of Fighting Back Partnership.

Pearsall took 20 volunteers to paint over 20 different graffiti sites throughout northern Vallejo.

"This is a time when you have good out of bad," Pearsall said, referring to the city's bankruptcy.

Despite the poor economic situation, people still come together a as a community to clean their neighborhoods, Pearsall said.

Fighting Back has divided the Crest into quarters, each with its own cleanup day. The last event was in September, and the next is scheduled to be sometime in February or March, Allen said.

The final cleanup, tentatively scheduled for June or so next year, will be the largest and will include all four quarters, Allen said.
Fighting Back Partnership is a nonprofit neighborhood improvement organization. The group has been in 29 neighborhoods in its nearly 20-year history, Allen said.

The organization works with residents and provides them with resources so they can clean up and improve their neighborhoods - Fighting Back does not do the work for them, Allen said.

"We give them the tools and a systematic process whereby they can begin to regain control," Allen said.

Allen said the program, which Fighting Back has used since 1997, has been very successful, and the group has taught the process to others throughout the country.

"When we get done, things change," Allen said.

For more information, visit Fighting Back Partnership's Web site at http://www.fight-back.org.

• E-mail Lanz Christian Bañes at lbanes@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6833.

AmCan does provide this type service in few capacities.

1) adopt a highway. Currently the AmCan Fil-Am club has been the group providing this service a few times per year. Afterwards they provide a BBQ at a member's home. Contact Lucila Datiles at City Hall.

2) City of AmCan provides a few city sponsored events throughout the year.The provide bfast foods and end with free hot dogs lunch.
Contact City Hall for more info

VicRiv,

The City is not doing enough...Remember the policy that was adopted for "clean up"? Rotating neighborhoods?

Drive off of Wetland's Edge into the Rancho area and tell me what you see.

Trucks full of trash, boats and RV's on the street, garbage in front yards...........I'm embarassed and ashamed to say I live here.

Not all of AC is as pretty as you get to see from your window.

I look forward to your observations.

I am asking , one last time, that this City Council represent and help the residents of the Rancho area with the destruction of our property. Mr. West...you live 3 blocks away...don't you care? Mr. Callison, you must take West Caroline home every once in a while...Don't you notice?

"NORTE" spray painted last night on several fences in the area is totally unacceptable ! Symbols that I don't even recognize sprayed on fences in red paint...Rio del Mar has been hit by taggers...Trash in trucks on West Carolyn and Landana...still sitting on the streets for months.

I just can't wait to have "My Family" come visit for the Holidays!

Actually, I am so embarassed by the look of my area "My Family "is not invited!

Merry Christmas...

Did anyone on the Council in AC read this article? Does AC have these same "perks"... in their contract?

I do want to thank anyone who is responsible for the clean-up of graffiti on Rio del Mar and West Carolyn...90% done!
One big old truck, full of garbage on West Carolyn "GONE" today ! One truck to go and taggin on the corner of Rio del Mar and West Carolyn...and I'm happy! ( "Norte" on the green fence in white paint.)

I have one observation that I would like to share with who ever reads this site:

Since we all know that the real estate market is in the "dumpster"...why in the world do these agents not demand that the neighborhoods they are trying to sell homes in are kept "neat and clean". Even if it means...they do the dirty work!







Illegal dumping often unnecessary, too
By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer
Posted: 01/07/2009 01:04:34 AM PST


Half of a trashed mobile home, complete with a kitchen sink, sits abandoned and filled with garbage on the north end of Mare Island. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald) Some of the refuse being dumped in Vallejo's alleys and empty spaces could have been picked up for free instead, garbage company and city officials said Tuesday.
For the past two years, Vallejo Garbage Service has offered four "bulky item" pickups per year, a company spokeswoman said. And though the service is not intentionally being kept a secret, many people don't know.

"People don't read their newsletter in their bill," said Vallejo Garbage spokeswoman Susan Slater. "It's also online."

Vallejo resident Lona English was among those who did learn of the service and has used it with success.

"I saw it in the bill, and we've been doing it for a couple of years," she said. "And we've had some really big stuff, like brick and concrete, and I didn't think they'd take them, but they did."

The company will accept two cubic yards of material per pickup, which equals about 10 33-gallon bags, Slater said. A couch, bed or washer and dryer equal two cubic yards, she said. Refrigerators, also equal to two cubic yards, can be picked up as long as the doors are removed, she added.

"You must call at least one day before your regular pickup day - we only do this on your regular garbage day - and you must know exactly what you will be putting out," Slater said. "But we can do all four of your allotted pickups at one time."

The four free pickups are good only for each calendar year, and don't roll over, she said.

"If you don't use them, you lose them," Slater


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said.
Vallejo Garbage once offered two such pickups annually at the company's discretion, notifying neighborhoods when they'd be by, but most people didn't get the message, she said.

"We'd send a flyer, but most people didn't know," she said. "We changed it as part of an agreement with the city for the convenience of the customers."

The firm also used to charge an extra $30 or $40 to pick up refrigerators or washers, dryers and the like. Now it's free, Slater said.

The types of items that can't be included with the bulky pickups are hazardous waste like propane tanks and oil-based paints, green waste, recyclables, tires and electronics.

"Electronics, or anything with a cord, can be brought to us for free between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday," Slater said. "That's new for us. We've only been doing it four months."

Valcore Recycling, 38 Sheridan St., offers confidential document shredding on the third Saturday of each month for $5 for up to 20 pounds, said city recycling coordinator Derek Crutchfield. This helps fight identity theft, he said.

"People can watch their papers shredded," Crutchfield said. "In this economy, people have to be really careful with their garbage."

But, there still are few free or easy ways to dispose of an unwanted boat, car, RV or the like, Slater said. These items often wind up dumped illegally, often on Mare Island, said Vallejo Code Enforcement Manager, Nimat Shakoor-Grantham.

"People don't want to pay, and if they think they'll have to pay, they sometimes dump illegally," she said. "Boats, trailers, cars, motor homes, are difficult to get rid of for free, so they dump them on Mare Island, and the city has to find a way to get rid of it."

Sometimes auto wreckers and dismantlers will haul away a derelict car, and will often pay up to $50, Crutchfield said, adding that the phone book's recycle guide notes organizations to which cars can be donated. He also said tires can be dumped for free at the city's annual Earth Day recycling event which is usually held in April.

Vallejo resident Tim O'Connor, who has publicly complained about illegal dumping behind his Steffan Street home, said it might end up costing the city less if it were to set up some free dump stations for this type of refuse.

"The corporation yard at Lincoln Road East by Springs Road would be perfect," he said. "These things wind up in my ally, and I'm getting desperate. What people are doing to my neighborhood is criminal. Someone needs to step up and do something different."

That wouldn't be so easy, since such a site would have to be monitored and managed, Shakoor-Grantham said, "but it's an idea."

• E-mail Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at RachelZ@thnewsnet.com or call 553-6824.

Mr. West and Vice Mayor Callison,

The truck is empty of garbage and moved away from my view... Thank you.

One fence to go................

I called you guys out and I got action! 99% there...get rid of the "NORTE" on the fence and I will be your biggest fan!

I am absolutely impressed.

Thanks again....I got results posting on this site.