Updates: As of Jan 24th, 2002.
We've had a varied number of responses to our Trash site. If you haven't already seen that, Click here.
They range from the “concerned” to the “How dare I?” kind of thing... but we'll get to those later. First an e-mail statement from the City of 29 Palms Code Enforcement Office...
The City of Twentynine Palms aggressively attempts to locate and clean illegal dump sites within City limits. The rubbish is searched, and, when possible, the originator of the trash is identified, contacted, cited, and required to clean up the rubbish. The dump sites are usually cleaned up within one to three days. The City also posts signs at dump sites advising that illegal dumping is a crime, and is subject to fines up to $1000.
The City of Twentynine Palms recognizes that windblown trash covering miles of open desert is a visual blight on the community. The City, in cooperation with Sierra Environmental Services, sponsors a Community Clean Up Day twice a year. The dump is free of charge during these clean up days, allowing citizens to dump brush and rubbish collected from their property, and from the desert, at no cost. Local civic and volunteer groups, including Boy Scouts, school clubs and athletic teams, compete to collect bags of trash from the desert in "Buck a Bag" and "Battle of the Bag" events. The groups that enter receive a "buck" for each bag of trash collected, and awards for the most bags collected. This program garners great support from the citizens of the City, and has resulted in miles of desert being cleaned up, with 45.7 tons of rubbish being collected during the last event, which was held on October 27, 2001.
Anyone locating an illegal dump site, or witnessing illegal dumping, in the City of Twentynine Palms should contact City Code Enforcement at (760) 367-6799. Illegal dumping in San Bernardino County should be reported to the County Code Enforcement at (909) 387-4044
Gary Blackman
City of Twentynine Palms
Code Enforcement
6136 Adobe Road
Twentynine Palms, CA 92277
(760) 367-6799
Way to go and thanks Gary.
We'd like to offer a statement from the County Code Enforcement Office, but I haven't heard back yet.
Trash is a sensitive subject. I know that. Everyone cares deeply about it, but nobody has anything left in a budget to take care of it... so if it's wind-blown, and not picked up by a school group or other good samaritan, or not in a pile, it's got a good chance of staying there forever - or at least until a stronger wind comes along.
It's also not fair to give the wrong impression of the City of Twentynine Palms. I actually love this place and it's why I moved here. A more beautiful spot would be hard to imagine, and trash is not unique to us. It's nationwide. (Screw rebuilding Kabul. There's trash to pick up here first).
That's why I would like to make it clear there is a big difference between City Trash and County Trash. (I know it may look the same to the untrained eye, but there is a dividing line along Mesquite Springs Road that determines the ownership.
If you're looking at this site (which you must be if you're reading this), you should be aware that most, (if not all), of the pictures on this trash site were taken on the County side of the line. Certainly all the big pieces anyway, and indeed most of the wind blown trash. But that's largely due to the fact it's the County side where I do most of my walking. It would be nice to find out what the County view on all this trash is but we've just got to wait a little longer.
I did do a small Trash Walk with Gary from the City Code Enforcement the other week and have another planned for Monday, January 28th at 2:00 PM (revised time) with Russell Scofield, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.
Anybody who would like to attend this walk should e-mail here.
In advance of this walk, Russell sent a .pdf file (88K) which I'm happy to share with anyone who wants to download it.
We have been out with our camera though and the photos on this page are a reflection of today's walk. We're also on a quest to try and find the oldest surviving piece of trash in the desert. The holy grail of trash if you will. If you think you know where it is, let us know.
It was especially sad today though to find there's now another brand new humongous pile of trash that may be in contention for 'Land Fill' status all by itself - see Newest Trash above for details.
With other updates expected soon, the only thing remaining is for me to address some of the criticisms of the first page I put up. Some people claim I was being insensitive by raising issues of Patriotism. This is not true. I'm simply using the current media buzz words to get your attention and focus on the fact that people who claim to be patriotic and then dump their trash around the countryside are not that patriotic in my opinion. Same with the Theology issue... I'm supposed making fun of their faith. Again, not true if you read it and not get all emotional with the buzz words designed to get your attention.
What I'm attempting to do is raise awareness by hitting some people over the head with a metaphorical 2 X 4 (with some nice artistic photos) so some commonsense can be seen... just like Tough Love. The presentation was designed to sting a little on purpose.
If it didn't, or have some other valid meaning, there's no point in doing it. But if you're offended in any way, I'm sorry... it's not my desire to go around upsetting people for no reason... BUT, I'm equally sorry to see this visual blight on our landscape everyday as well.
And lastly, I'm not having a go at Christians because I applaud all people of faith and intellect, but after removing something from the Newer Trash pile, I think I can safely say that one of the dumpers at least is more likely to number among their acquaintance than mine... click here to download .pdf file of what I am obviously calling Holy Trash - 136K. I guess God never told him to pick up his trash.
See the first Trash Mural Page... Here.
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