Hollywood residents spend $30K, countless hours to curb illegal dumping

For the past three years, a pair of Hollywood residents have worked together to try to curb illegal dumping, but the issue is so severe, they need the City of Los Angeles and other neighbors to help.

Sabine Phillips prefers to ride her bike around the streets of her east Hollywood neighborhood because it gives her a perfect view of the endless trash, dumped furniture, cardboard boxes, waste from street vendors, and graffiti plaguing the area.

And that’s exactly what she wants.

After years of watching the streets get dirtier, Phillips and her friend took matters into their own hands. They decided to look for illegal dumping and report the problems to the City of LA.

For more than three years, Phillips’ friend has been paying Phillips $800 a month to go around the streets of their neighborhood and report illegal dumping to the city.

“So, she started paying me for every Wednesday, before trash day, [for me] to go around and write down everything,” Phillips told NBCLA. “When we come down here, Sierra Vista, this street, you can see all the violations.”

From sofas and mattresses to televisions and furniture, she has seen all kinds of trash piling up on the streets.

For a while, Phillips said she was seeing results. When she reported some violations, the city would clean up some of the streets.

But after pouring nearly $30,000 and countless hours of personal time into trying to resolve Hollywood’s illegal dumping issues, the women need more help.

Phillips’ friend is no longer funding the illegal dumping reporting.

“After three years, she’s getting fed up with it because she says this is something that the city should be doing,” Phillips told NBCLA. 

In a letter to the city, Phillips and her friend wrote, in part: “We are asking for a real, lasting solution — not a one-time volunteer cleanup, not a temporary patch. This situation demands sustained, funded, systemic intervention.”

Phillips has a specific plan in mind — a plan that stems from her personal experiences.

“We could start a network of — I would call myself like a ‘neighborhood advocate — who all over the city have a certain area that they take care of, that makes sure that things get reported,” she explained. “And maybe pay them a little bit for it.”

Phillips said community members also need to pull their weight, as excess trash and bulky items lining the streets can contribute to growing homeless encampments.

“One of the main fuels for these encampments are the bulky items that are left outside,” Phillips explained. “Now, when I talk to people and say, ‘Well, have you called this in?’ The usual answer is, ‘It’s not mine,’ or ‘I don’t care.’”

But she argues all neighbors should care.

“I live here. I would like to have a nice neighborhood,” Phillips said. “My friends live here. My church is here. I want us to have a nice, livable neighborhood.”

NBCLA reached out to the LA Department of Sanitation who said they will review the locations Phillips flagged this week.

Meanwhile, councilmember Hugo Soto Martinez’ office told NBCLA it has committed $600,000 to address illegal dumping.

Residents can report illegal dumping by calling 311 or via District 13’s website.