Rubble Trouble : Lingering Quake Debris Poses New Problems for Homeowners

Even a year and a half after the Northridge earthquake, countless piles of debris still lump the streets of Los Angeles’ hardest-hit neighborhoods like abstract sculptures of humpback whales cruising the curbs.

And homeowners who have them, or are still adding to them, have a new worry.

It’s now up to them, not the government, to get rid of the piles or pay a hefty penalty if the city has to do the job.

After laying out $233 million to haul away the concrete and drywall behemoths, the federal government this week turned the job and the cost over to homeowners--another costly headache for those still suffering in the wake of the second most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.

Surveying the heap of concrete and asphalt in front of her expansive Woodland Hills home, Nily Kolodaro offered a rough guess at the cost of removing that pile alone: “$1,000, minimum,” she said.

Even as she spoke, work crews toiled behind her, adding new layers of rubble.

After extending the deadline for ending financial support for the city’s earthquake cleanup program three times since the January, 1994, temblor, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said no on Monday. It rejected a request by the city of Los Angeles for an additional $15 million, money that could have allowed the city to phase out the program over the rest of the year.

FEMA officials said they denied the request because such programs are only eligible for federal aid if the debris represents an immediate threat to public health and safety.

Although the news was not unexpected--and half the $15 million would have gone to cite property owners for failure to clean up their messes, not help them to take the debris away--the end of the federal money is certain to add to the burdens of thousands of property owners.

“It leaves us in a mess,” said Andy Santamaria, director of the Los Angeles city debris removal program. “If everybody continues to just dump in the street, we’re going to have some problems.”

As of early this week, Santamaria estimated, there were still 100,000 tons of drywall, concrete, ceiling tiles and other remnants of shaken homes piled on Los Angeles streets, primarily in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the Santa Monica corridor.

The going rate for removal is $25 to $30 a ton, not including trucking fees, according to James Devlin, district manager of BFI Inc., a major refuse company. That would bring the cost of removing the existing trash to $2.5 million to $3 million.

It’s not just the cost, however, that many property owners are dreading. It’s the hassle, the complications of ridding themselves of heaps of their homes. Although many praised the city’s program this week, others said that even the free pickup program was difficult enough.

Kolodaro said the city removed her first three mini-mountains swiftly. Trying to be a good neighbor and keep the narrow section of Winnetka Avenue where she lives debris-free, however, she first piled this latest heap in her front yard.

When the crews arrived in June they told her she would have to move it into the street before they could take it away. So she did. When she called Monday to see why it hadn’t yet been picked up, she received a message back later on her phone answering machine.

“I’m sorry,” the voice said. “It’s too late.”

Kolodaro said: “Many people just got money [from their insurance companies] two months ago or something, so they could not do the work” while the free program was under way.

City official Santamaria agreed that many property owners “have legitimate gripes--by the time they settled [their insurance claims], the program’s over,” he said.

But, he added, fair or not, “the ship has sailed,” and he encouraged people with debris piles to see that they are removed quickly because enforcement officers are already issuing notices of noncompliance.

Officers handed out 28 notices Tuesday, most of them in the Valley, warning residents that if they do not clean up the piles, city crews will, and they will be sent the bill, said J. P. Ellman, chairwoman of the city’s Public Works Commission.

“For the small piles, they’re being told they need to remove it immediately,” Ellman said. “For the larger piles, they’re giving them 72 hours.”

She could not say just how big a pile must be for it to be considered “larger.”

Many of the estimated tens of thousands of piles are currently of the “larger” type, though they may not have started out as such.

Since the effort began, hundreds of cases have been reported to cleanup program officials of residents attempting to have their refuse hauled off for free claiming that the debris was from the quake. Sometimes it has been a homeowner with legitimate earthquake debris adding a Christmas tree to the pile. In other cases, especially where a pile has remained unmoved for months, neighbors and others have begun tossing everything from old tires to tattered sofas onto the heap. Even before Monday, city crews would refuse to pick up debris that appeared not to be left from the quake.

“I’m telling you, you come here at 8 o’clock tonight, you’ll see somebody dumping,” said Louie Busane, eyeing the 35-foot-long, four-foot-high junk pile across the street from his home in Reseda.

According to Busane, his neighbor left a heap of quake debris in the street for free pickup--and then added a tiny pile of non-quake-related tree limbs.

“Once people saw that there were branches there, concrete started coming, toilets started coming, clothes,” he said, not to mention pizza boxes, the headboard of a bed, palm fronds and small appliances.

As the rules are written, however, because the heap rests next to his neighbor’s house--where no one answered the door Wednesday--the neighbor is now responsible for disposing of it, regardless of who put it there and regardless of the cost.

For the honest heap-maker whose sad sculpture has grown with the help of others, however, there is one hint of justice in the latest version of the post-quake game: Those caught dumping additional refuse in the streets could be fined $1,000 and sentenced to a year in jail.