Pacoima : Cleanup of Illegal Dump Continues

The cleanup crew stepped gingerly Friday around stained mattresses, discarded underwear, drums of used motor oil and other garbage as they told of the progress made in cleaning one of the most disgusting illegal dumps in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

“Watch your step,” crew leader Conrad Batham said. “We found five hypodermic needles on the ground this morning.” Several needles were still visible on the filthy, sour-smelling ground.

But missing from the Pacoima site were about 32,400 used rubber tires, which Batham and his crew trucked away this week to be recycled. Several thousand tires remain, but will soon be removed, he said.

The cleanup was made possible by $150,000 in state funds set aside at the urging of state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar).

It was unclear what would happen to a broken-down truck, a 40-foot trailer full of mattresses, clothes and boxes of soy milk, and a small dilapidated shack littered with syringes, spoons, buckets, wires and other junk.

According to state documents, the property on Osborne Street is owned by Connie Aguirre and the estate of James Monroe Bass. Aguirre filed for bankruptcy and resides out of state. And although officials note that she is not the one responsible for the dumping--which took place while an illegal squatter lived on the property--Aguirre is cooperating with cleanup efforts, according to state documents and Katz.

“This site is a hazard and health risk to people in this area,” Katz said Friday. “If these tires caught fire, they would burn for days. People shouldn’t have to worry about hazardous facilities in their own back yards.”

Eighteen-year-old George Sandoval and his 2-year-old son have lived in a house adjacent to the dump for the last two years. “We see prostitutes go in there, druggies, everything,” Sandoval said. “I try to keep the kids away. But there’s a lot less risk now.”