Operation Sparkle Trash Hauled Out of Pacoima Neighborhoods

Los Angeles city sanitation crews Monday put the shine back in Operation Sparkle, a police-sponsored weekend community cleanup effort, when they hauled away piles of debris left in some neighborhoods.

Several Pacoima residents had been angered to find a large pile of trash, including used furniture and old appliances, left behind.

“I’m sure glad to see that stuff gone. They did a nice cleanup,” said Raymond Jackson, who helped organize the cleanup in his neighborhood and then complained bitterly when the trash was not hauled away afterward. “It was dangerous--there were cans of paint thinner and other flammable material. That could have caused a lot of trouble.”

After Saturday’s cleanup, which involved 3,000 people in different neighborhoods, there were piles of trash left behind in many areas, including one 5 feet high, 15 feet wide and more than 60 feet long near Jackson’s home at Corcoran Street and Bromont Avenue.

The pile grew and spread over the weekend as people dumped more trash at the site and others scavenged through it, said Jackson, chairman of the Northeast Community Improvement Assn.

A Los Angeles police spokesman said the debris went uncollected in many areas because police had not anticipated the huge response to Operation Sparkle and were surprised by the amount of trash collected by volunteers. The 15 trash bins the city had provided were quickly filled, Sgt. Dennis Zine said.

“The residents did such a phenomenal job that it exceeded our capacity to store all of the trash,” Zine said. “It surpassed our wildest expectations. We apologize for any inconvenience it caused.”

The department had already arranged to have the garbage cleaned up Monday, Zine said, but not all residents were notified. “All of the spots where the trash was . . . are now clean.”