SYLMAR : Residents Grappling With Quake Debris

Sylmar homeowners attempting to put the earthquake behind them are finding their efforts reach only so far--the curb.

Some streets in the northeastern Valley community, famous for its brush with seismic disaster in 1971, have been lined with piles of debris for up to two weeks, said Frank Jacobs, executive director of the Sylmar Chamber of Commerce. Much of the waste consists of household items destroyed by the Jan. 17 temblor, he said.

“They came about two weeks ago and picked up some trash, but the streets are filling up again,” Jacobs said Tuesday.

Residents who have called the Los Angeles city Bureau of Sanitation telephone numbers have gotten little more than busy signals or no answer at all, he said. So they have flooded the Chamber of Commerce with calls instead.

The city has two telephone numbers for two kinds of trash. For bulky items such as furniture, residents should call the Bureau of Sanitation community service line, (800) 773-2489. For heavy construction material, such as blocks, residents must call the Engineering Bureau at (213) 847-8811, said Michael Miller, assistant director of the Bureau of Sanitation. Both bureaus are part of the city Public Works Department.

Jacobs said he has tried, and failed. “The phones just keep ringing and ringing,” he said.

An attempt by The Times to reach the Sanitation Bureau on Tuesday afternoon produced about a five-minute wait. But periodic attempts to reach the Engineering Bureau--over several hours--were unsuccessful.

Miller said residents should expect to wait about a week between when they call and when their bulky items are picked up.

Staff at the Sylmar office of Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon have received several telephone calls about the rubbish piling up, and have been told by city officials that bulk pickups should take 5 to 10 days, said Sybil MacDonald, communication director for Alarcon.

“What we’re finding out is it’s more like two weeks,” MacDonald said. “There’s just a tremendous back load. There’s really nothing that can be done.”

Meanwhile, residents who can cart the trash themselves have been taking advantage of a free dumpster provided by Browning-Ferris Industries near Alarcon’s field office, at Gladstone and Hubbard streets, said Jacobs.

Other residents have tried to break up their debris and fit it into the city’s trash containers, he said. As in most Los Angeles communities, Sylmar residents are allocated one large black barrel for household trash and other containers for clippings and recyclable materials.

“We’ll be here for six months filling up our black containers,” said Jacobs. “People have 10 times the amount of trash as allowed by the city’s trash containers.”