Man Who Stored Quake Rubble Agrees to Cleanup

The owner of a 50-foot-tall mountain of earthquake rubble that has been a neighborhood eyesore in Huntington Park for more than five years gave up rights to the pile in court Friday, making way for a long-awaited cleanup.

Sam Chew, who collected the 200,000-ton pile of rubble in hopes of selling it for road base, had agreed last month to a court-approved cleanup program. But during a progress report hearing in Municipal Court on Friday, Chew and his attorney said they had yet to acquire permits to begin the cleanup.

Frustrated with the delays, Municipal Judge Kenneth Lee Chotiner ordered Chew to sign an agreement to give up ownership of the pile and pay a $250,000 fine to the city of Huntington Park. At least part of the fine will be paid from the sale of the rubble.

The judge also found Chew in violation of a previous probation sentence. Chotiner doubled Chew’s previous sentence for creating a public nuisance to 200 days of working on a freeway cleanup crew.

Neighbors of the rubble pile have complained for years that dust from the mountain of concrete has caused such health problems as asthma and fatigue among children and the elderly in the community.

Chew pleaded not guilty in 1997 to nine counts of creating a public nuisance but the cleanup was delayed when he filed for bankruptcy.

William Litvak, a Huntington Park city prosecutor who has pressed for stiff penalties for Chew, said the owner of the property that Chew leased for the rubble pile has promised to work with the city to quickly clear away the mountain.

He said details of the cleanup effort are pending. But, he added: “The most significant roadblock in this has been the violator, and he is now out of the way.”