Trash

Should anyone be sorry that the landfills are not generating income (“ Landfill sees steep revenue drop ,” Feb. 20)? Have we become some Third World country where our revenue depends on accepting trash? City officials have their policies upside-down. We should be doing everything to reduce waste and extend the life of the landfill. How about establishing a vision of zero waste by 2020? That would translate into zero dollars in revenue from landfill operations. What most Glendale residents may still not know is that the city's expenditures have far outpaced its revenues, starting since well before the recession.

I decided not to write my annual ode to the springtime beauty of the Verdugo Hills because the hillsides were already turning a desiccated brown in late February because of the lack of winter rains. Fortunately the plentiful March and April rains resuscitated the green and gave good vigor to the wildflowers. I am writing once again about the trash that sprouts everywhere I hike in the hills regardless of the season or the rains. There is the small trash of candy, gum and energy bar wrappers and tissues that could so easily be tucked into the hiker's pocket.

Last summer we had a death in our house. Two, actually. First a goldfish. Then my garage refrigerator. Both were mourned with much wailing and weeping. But I still miss the latter to this day. That loyal fridge graciously held my frozen steaks, extra gallons of milk and all the leftover beer and sodas from every backyard gathering. She was like my own personal Handy Market, which may be why I had such a hard time letting her go. Unlike the goldfish, I never gave the fridge a proper burial.

I took photos of trash piled along curbs on Aug. 30. The trash had already been here for at least three weeks prior to my photos. As I write this, it is Sept. 12 and the trash is still there. In fact, more has been added. It spreads all the way from the apartments at 1144 N. Verdugo Road to the apartments at Calle Vaquero. It is disgusting and it is hazardous. Also, look at what is underneath the 134 Freeway overpass, just north of 1414 E. Chevy Chase Drive. Trash, liquor bottles, a mattress, furniture; you name it, it gets dumped here.

Going all out on candy and Halloween decorations may earn a neighborhood street cred among trick-or-treaters, but it can also mean trash -- lots of it. It's a problem that Northwest Glendale -- long a popular draw for hundreds of children on Halloween -- has been grappling with for years. So today, dozens of volunteers are scheduled to converge on the neighborhood today for the second consecutive year to comb streets for candy wrappers and other trash. Organized by the city's Neighborhood Services Division, the clean-up includes volunteer groups from Hoover High, Toll Middle and Keppel Elementary schools.

CITY HALL — Glendale has exceeded an ambitious citywide recycling goal two years earlier than expected, officials said. For the past 10 years, at least 50% of all city waste was diverted from landfills through an assortment of city recycling programs, according to state law. But in 2006, Public Works officials challenged the city to bump up the so-called waste diversion rate to 60% by the end of 2011. Calculations on trash and recycling levels show that the city diverted 61% of all trash from landfills in 2009, according to figures released Friday.

In order to avoid steep fines, Glendale plans to install hundreds of storm drain screens to keep trash from getting into the Los Angeles River. The City Council has approved spending $100,000 more, bringing the total cost for 579 screens to $150,000. The screens are required by the state's water quality control board, which requires cities to block trash from getting into the river. The screens prevent trash as small as 5 millimeters in diameter from entering the storm drain system.

Who says bottles and old magazines have to go straight to the recycling bin? The Homenetmen Glendale Ararat Chapter will be hosting a "Recycled Art Exhibit" on Saturday, at the Ararat Center. Over the last four months, members have been collecting bottles, old sneakers, books, magazines and T-shirts and turned them into works of art. They go on display during an exhibit that is open to the public from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, according to announcement from the nonprofit that mostly serves Armenian American youth with sports and after-school programming.

Jenna Bordelon PALMER PARK -- John Muir Elementary School student Enrique Malaguit, 11, picked up an old piece of gum with a eucalyptus leaf. "The gum almost laid down on my hand," he said. "It was gross." The cleanup was part of an Earth Day awareness event put on by the school. It was designed to give fifth- and sixth-grade students a sense of their immediate environment and why it's covered in trash. Earth Day will be celebrated throughout the world today.

Alex Hausman and his four-year-old son, Theo, were walking across a shallow area of the Los Angeles River on Saturday morning when they spotted a child-sized mattress floating near the edge. When a few nearby volunteers saw the find, they lifted the dirty mattress out of the water and onto the pavement next to the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk. Later, it was hauled into a truck bed on top of a few other objects: a shopping cart, a suitcase and several bags of trash. Hausman was one of more than 100 volunteers who spent Saturday morning cleaning out a portion of the Los Angeles River that runs alongside the newly-completed riverwalk in Glendale.

A large black bear was spotted Sunday night digging through a trash bin in a Chevy Chase Canyon neighborhood, police said. The bear, which residents described as between 500 and 800 pounds, was sifting through an outdoor trash bin in the 3200 block of Cornwall Drive, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Officials said the size of the bear, if accurate, is extremely rare. Glendale police who responded to the scene flashed their patrol car lights and used an air horn to scare the bear off into a nearby hillside and out of sight.

In order to avoid steep fines, Glendale plans to install hundreds of storm drain screens to keep trash from getting into the Los Angeles River. The City Council has approved spending $100,000 more, bringing the total cost for 579 screens to $150,000. The screens are required by the state's water quality control board, which requires cities to block trash from getting into the river. The screens prevent trash as small as 5 millimeters in diameter from entering the storm drain system.

Legalized medicinal marijuana was a grand experiment. I voted for it. If it had been successful, other states and probably the federal government would have followed California's lead. It has failed. I again witnessed its failure in Lower Scholl Park. Realizing that the city's Parks and Recreations Department can no longer properly maintain parks without volunteer help, I have begun a modest routine of picking up trash two days a week at Lower Scholl. This Tuesday morning my dog and I found a pile of trash at an isolated corner of the park.

I took photos of trash piled along curbs on Aug. 30. The trash had already been here for at least three weeks prior to my photos. As I write this, it is Sept. 12 and the trash is still there. In fact, more has been added. It spreads all the way from the apartments at 1144 N. Verdugo Road to the apartments at Calle Vaquero. It is disgusting and it is hazardous. Also, look at what is underneath the 134 Freeway overpass, just north of 1414 E. Chevy Chase Drive. Trash, liquor bottles, a mattress, furniture; you name it, it gets dumped here.

I decided not to write my annual ode to the springtime beauty of the Verdugo Hills because the hillsides were already turning a desiccated brown in late February because of the lack of winter rains. Fortunately the plentiful March and April rains resuscitated the green and gave good vigor to the wildflowers. I am writing once again about the trash that sprouts everywhere I hike in the hills regardless of the season or the rains. There is the small trash of candy, gum and energy bar wrappers and tissues that could so easily be tucked into the hiker's pocket.

A baklava-loving bear may have returned Thursday night to Chevy Chase Canyon to have a feast before trash day, authorities said.  Residents reported seeing a black bear about 9:15 p.m. in the 3100 block of Linda Vista Road -- a few blocks from where a 300-pound bear was spotted in May digging through trash and snacking on chicken, rice and baklava. That bear reappeared two weeks ago, also on a Thursday -- the night before the trash is collected in the hillside community. Police were still trying to locate the ursine, Glendale Police Sgt. Craig Tweedy said.

Glendale's trash may have attracted a third bear to its hillsides, with residents in the Chevy Chase Canyon reporting a much smaller, 150-pound ursine in their neighborhood Thursday night, police said. That would put the bear at half the size of the two 300-pound beasts spotted earlier this  summer. Residents reported seeing a black bear about 9:15 p.m. in the 3100 block of Linda Vista Road -- a few blocks from where a 300-pound bear was spotted in May digging through trash and snacking on chicken, rice and baklava.

A 300-pound black bear with a taste for Middle Eastern food may have returned to Chevy Chase Canyon for more Thursday night before being chased out, police said. Residents reported seeing the bear about 10 p.m. in the 2500 block of East Chevy Chase Drive - the same spot where a bear was spotted in May digging through trash and snacking on chicken, rice and Baklava. It was unclear if it was the same bear, but much like their response in May, Glendale police on Thursday used an air horn to scare the hulking intruder into a nearby hillside.

Glendale may have another hungry bear on its hands. Chevy Chase Canyon residents this week reported seeing a 400-pound bruin in the same area two nights in a row rifling through trash. “When I saw it, I was scared,” said Caroline Muradian, who spotted the bear sifting through her trash on the 2500 block of East Chevy Chase Tuesday night. The bear was likely after the chicken, rice and pastries that she had thrown in the trash earlier that day, she said. The bear didn't appear to be bothered by human presence, Muradian added, even after police arrived and tried to shoo it away.