Quake Cleanup Not Profiting Mike Gil : There should have been a better way, Gil says, a way to clean up quake debris without hurting businesses like his.

He was just 17 years old, a skinny high school dropout standing on a San Fernando street corner, hoping for work. Somebody gave him some. And that’s how Mike Gil, now nearing his 61st birthday, began his career in rubbish.

For years he was a “swamper,” his muscles thickening as he hoisted heavy barrels into the old “Vic Tanny trucks,” nicknamed for the famed bodybuilder of the ‘50s. Later he was promoted to driver and then dispatcher. Like others in the field, he would learn that one person’s trash could be another’s treasure. Over the years he would salvage clothing, toys, tools, bicycles. Once he found a set of crystal. But after he moved into management, what really impressed him was a glimpse at the books.

“I saw all the money coming in--and here I’m getting 200 bucks a week.”

With a partner providing capital, Mike Gil launched his own company in 1971 and would do well enough to move into a four-bedroom house with a swimming pool in Sylmar.

Today, however, Gil’s firm is just scraping by, and not because there isn’t enough debris to go around. The problem is that, ever since Jan. 17, 1994, there’s been too much. To do away with the rubble of the Northridge earthquake, government agencies instructed property owners to leave it at curbside. This has been a boon to some private contractors who were retained to remove the debris. But Mike Gil, after all these years, is the odd man out.

And that’s why he’s filed a $45,000 claim against the city of Los Angeles. The curbside removal program, he figures, has cost him that much business. On Monday, Gil received the city’s response: Claim denied.

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Economize Roll Off Service, Mike Gil’s company, is one of several rubbish firms that has been hurt by the debris removal policy. Gil has suffered more than most because, ever since he sold off other aspects of his company a few years ago, it has specialized in the “roll off” aspect of the field. Such companies rent out large rubbish bins to customers. “We drop, you fill, we haul,” explains the Economize business cards.

Initially, the quake created so much business that Economize and other firms had to put customers on waiting lists. But when the city of Los Angeles launched its curbside debris removal program, it sought bids from contractors who have a state license to do demolition work. Rubbish haulers who lacked such a license were out of luck.

“Demand for our containers slacked way off,” said Charlie Caspary of Atlas Transport, a Chatsworth rubbish hauler. “Contractors that would call us regularly--a large percentage of those stopped calling. Everyday homeowners stopped calling. They’d get the stuff to the curb and not pay for it.”

Once, Caspary said, a contractor who was repairing quake damage at a church called to rent two large bins. “But he didn’t want us to take them to the dump when they got full. He just told us to dump it by the curb.” Atlas declined the contractor’s business.

Gil tells about a friend in roofing: “Now he can strip a roof and throw it in the street.”

City officials say the amount of illegal dumping has increased considerably since the debris removal program started. Efforts are being made to crack down on offenders.

Before the quake, Gil was running two trucks full-time and kept a third in reserve. Since then, he’s had to lay off two drivers and now has only one truck operating part-time. The part-timer probably would have been laid off too, but for the fact that, two years ago, Gil was found to have diabetes and was prescribed insulin, a condition that made it illegal for him to have a commercial trucking license. If Gil didn’t own his trucks and containers free and clear, he would have been out of business months ago.

Gil’s wife, Linda, helps run the company. She says she understands why people are exploiting the debris removal program, which has been extended to July 17. The problem is the way it hurts legitimate businesses.

The Gils applied for a quake loan from the Small Business Administration, but were denied because they couldn’t show an income stream. In the meantime, they’ve dipped into an IRA retirement account to pay rent on the storage yard and to cover household expenses.

Like many Valley residents, the Gils have had to face big earthquake bills at home.

Three years back, they moved out of their home. Now in their 18th year of marriage, Mike and Linda, who between them had six children from previous marriages, figured that after the kids had grown up and moved on, it was time to scale back and prepare for retirement. So they bought a double-wide in Sylmar’s Los Olivos mobile home park and filled it with comfortable furniture and family photographs.

Twenty-two coaches burned in the quake. A water drop from a helicopter probably spared the Gils’ home. It sustained heavy damage but insurance helped in rebuilding it. The Gils figure that the deductible and other expenses probably cost them at least $15,000.

They didn’t figure that quake recovery would cost more than the earthquake itself.

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There should have been a better way, Gil says, a way to clean up quake debris without hurting businesses like his. City officials say 361 private companies have participated in the debris removal program. And then there were the unlucky ones who found that their services would not be required.

The city, Gil figures, could have found a role for someone with his experience and equipment. “If I could keep my trucks busy all day long,” Gil says, “I could cut the price in half.”