From Councilman Bill Rosendahl:
ROSENDAHL TO FORM WORKING GROUP TO COMBAT DUMPING OF HUMAN WASTE
Councilman wants better coordination of agencies, quicker response, community outreach
In response to three incidents of human waste dumping in Venice in the past week, Councilmember Bill Rosendahl is convening a working group of responsible agencies to prevent or better respond to such criminal threats to public health.
The group, including city and county health and law enforcement authorities, will be charged with developing a better, quicker and more transparent protocol for reporting, responding to, cleaning up, investigating and prosecuting such incidents.
“The dumping of human waste onto our streets is reprehensible and should never happen,” Rosendahl said. “But if it does, it must be cleaned up immediately. It should take one call to any agency to get action.”
The working group will include Rosendahl’s office, Los Angeles City Public Works, Los Angeles County health and sanitation officials, the Los Angeles Police Department the Los Angeles Fire Department, the offices of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“The fact that it took several days for the waste to be removed is upsetting,” Rosendahl said. “Even in times of budget crises and impaired government services, we need to do better.”
Rosendahl said when any agency gets a call regarding human waste dumping, a notification alert needs to be sent to a range of other responsible agencies to make sure the incident is met with coordinated action.
“A resident shouldn’t have to make multiple phone calls and navigate through red tape,” Rosendahl said.
