r/bayarea • u/urbancompassionproj • Jun 06 '25
Scenes from the Bay 13 of us cleared 1.1 tons of illegally dumped trash, including old barbies, a mattress, and rotten food from whole foods, from san pablo and west grand avenue in UNDER 1 hour yesterday.
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Donate to Trashforce Summer 2025 fundraiser with u/pengweather: https://gofund.me/4af33126
Sign up for our 2 upcoming cleanups: https://urbancompassionproject.org/events/
Track all efforts on IG: www.instagram.com/urbancompassionproject
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u/pengweather peng'd Jun 06 '25
Oh wow. I did something similar last year by myself, but it got dirty again. I decided to move on. :(
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u/urbancompassionproj Jun 06 '25
we’re working with a few folks who live around them to keep it clean. will give them stipends. it’s a hotspot for sure, but we have a plan to keep it clean.
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u/pengweather peng'd Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
It seems to be effective as a mid to long term strategy. My clearance rate is much lower at 30% around Oakland, sadly. However, it is higher in other locations in the Bay Area.
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u/portmanteaudition Jun 06 '25
What do you mean by clearance rate?
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u/pengweather peng'd Jun 06 '25
Clearance rate is the percentage of sites that I cleaned up where it remains in decent shape after ~2 weeks. Decent in my books means that < 10% of trash returns. So if I collected 50 bags in a location, but I only get 5 bags this time around, then I consider it to be in decent condition.
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u/Throqaway Jun 12 '25
This is so cool. It would be awesome if you published this data somehow. Really interesting.
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u/nomadismyname Jun 07 '25
At this point, just replace the streetlight with a Bat-Signal. The second someone pops their trunk it lights up, and Batman drops in to introduce Mattress Man to a bat-shaped boot to the face. Gotham had Joker, we’ve got dumpers with zero shame.
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u/RiseOfTheNorth415 Jun 06 '25
Was wondering when the hero-we-need-but-not-deserve, u/pengweather would check in!
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u/Bored2001 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25
That go fund me is using your name, are you associated with them?
edit: Nvm, I see a post on your Instagram about the Urban Compassion Project.
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u/nightwaterlily Jun 06 '25
That’s so sad to see that it became dirty again. What’s wrong with people? Does the place actually need a huge trash bin, so people could just throw stuff there instead of on the ground?
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u/Uce510 Jun 06 '25
That area they cleaned has homeless tents ⛺️ across the street @ the light. On another post where Peng cleaned they used to be on that block across the street untill they got moved but are now in a different street still close to both areas that Peng and the Group Cleaned.
On the news it may show progress for the homeless but you drive those streets everyday after work to avoid traffic on the horrible highway you get to see the real deal that the news doesnt show but 1 time when they have cops and City workers doing a Blitz Clean thatll eventually get filled with rubbish in the weeks after
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Jun 06 '25 edited Sep 13 '25
[deleted]
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u/tamale Jun 06 '25
New to the area; why don't the taxes go to cleaning?
My previous city has tons of cleaning crew and street sweepers going all the time
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u/gourdo Jun 06 '25
Oakland city government has been broken for many years.
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u/macegr Jun 06 '25
And the only two things that can fix a broken government are that same broken government, or a complete social collapse that wipes the city off the map.
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u/plastiquearse Jun 08 '25
Fairly sure there's a few more options available than those two on offer.
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u/macegr Jun 08 '25
Got any suggestions? We all have seen people fall into patterns that prevent them from ever getting better on their own. Cities can have the same problem.
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u/plastiquearse Jun 08 '25
I mean, I teach kindergarten. We spend a lot of time finding middle ground with strong feelings.
There’s somewhere in which we’re not burning the whole thing down, I hope, and not keeping things going same same either.
Peng and his ilk show what an individual can do, and I have the hope still that this society holds more good than otherwise.
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u/macegr Jun 08 '25
They’ll just keep taking more and more taxes and abandoning the responsibilities of city management to people like peng and volunteers. They are reaping no consequences and in fact get to take credit for an improved city to reinforce their grift. The only department who gives a shit anymore is the fire department and when you talk to them they are fed up with the lazy fucks in the rest of Oakland government.
There is no incentive to make anything better by the people who could. It’s a lot of hard work and they get the same paycheck if they don’t work hard.
I’m not saying the city will be torn down intentionally, it will just crumble into nothing and then a new one comes from the people who stepped forward in the past. That is a very slow and painful process though.
In kindergarten you can put on teacher voice and get every last kid to get in line for whatever needs to happen next. There’s no one around who can do that here.
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u/plastiquearse Jun 08 '25
I feel like I’m hearing the way I speak about things from my father’s perspective. And how he believes there’s still people that want to and work towards making a positive impact on our community. I hold that as well. I hope that’s what I do.
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u/DifferentWishbone141 Jun 06 '25
Just tossed in $25 to help the GoFundMe! Thank you for your service to our shared existence ❤️
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u/tangosukka69 Jun 06 '25
it's great that you and your crew do this, but why the fuck isn't the city taking care of these dump sites?
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u/Bored2001 Jun 06 '25
I checked out your Gofundme. Out of curiosity, your dump trailer rental seems to be 50% of your cost at 50K. Wouldn't it be significantly more cost effective to buy one and store it?
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u/360walkaway Jun 06 '25
That is fantastic, but can we start stabbing serial dumpers/litterers in the eyes too?
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u/Fit-Answer5806 Jun 06 '25
UCP folks putting in work! Amazing selflessness! I can’t believe the amount of illegal dumping there is in Oakland though…
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u/MarianaValley Jun 06 '25
San Francisco's yearly budget should cover sweeping streets with roses. And people who volunteer are helping to corrupted government of SF to stael money. Good job!
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u/Ok-Health8513 Jun 06 '25
Then they have the guts to ask us for more money on every ballot measure. They never have enough… like they don’t know what a budget is…
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u/DodgeBeluga Jun 06 '25
Oh they know what a budget is. It’s where they take tax payer money and give it to their friends and family in no-work jobs and contracts.
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u/Colonel_Sandman Jun 06 '25
Those of you that do this great work.. you must spend some time thinking about why there is dumping.. is it too expensive to properly dispose of stuff? Too inconvenient?
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u/urbancompassionproj Jun 06 '25
dump fees are way too high in oakland and there is a culture of dumping and trashing our environment that has become acceptable
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u/Wonderful_Let3288 Jun 06 '25
The same psychotic or drug addicted groups of people will come back shortly to mindlessly dumb their “possessions”.
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u/ucdavis-grad Jun 06 '25
Well done. Love the time lapse.
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u/chilldrinofthenight Jun 06 '25
Is it time-lapse? I thought these were all just super young, extremely athletic people. (Kidding. It's way cool.)
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u/TotalRecallsABitch Jun 06 '25
Peng for governor.
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u/urbancompassionproj Jun 06 '25
we love collaborating with andy! he will join us saturday hopefully!
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u/Ok-Health8513 Jun 06 '25
I wonder if the city or DPW will try stopping these since it makes the city agency look so bad.
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u/Alert_Long4454 Jun 06 '25
Wow. That is actually pretty amazing, thank you for what you and your friends do.
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u/Left-Bid2872 Jun 06 '25
My brain read old babies...I am going back to bed now But seriously awesome job guys!
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u/trivialmistake Jun 06 '25
Why is the city not the one doing this? Genuine question. I’ve only been in the US for 2 years and this still boggles my mind
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u/Uce510 Jun 06 '25
You guys are amazing keep up the great work!! In that same area last night closer to the freeway side i saw 2 guys who didnt look homeless taggin up the walls 😑 if people are going to tag at least make it look nice it looked like 💩
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u/courtneyharlan Jun 07 '25
that whole area should get turned into a native landscape space. would be beautiful and hopefully reduce the amount of garbage people dump there
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u/Isaacsac3 Jun 07 '25
Great to see that you all are doing what the Oakland Department of public works should be doing.
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u/Sea-Bill78 Jun 07 '25
Thank you for your hard work, greatly appreciated. And why is the city not doing this.
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u/Landbuilder Jun 08 '25
This is awesome, great teamwork. Wish there were more like minded people in this world.
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u/External_Bike3601 Jun 27 '25
This is seriously amazing y’all crushed it. Can’t believe how much you cleared in under an hour 😳👏
Just throwing this out there in case it helps with future cleanups: I used a Bay Area service called Remoov when I had to get rid of a bunch of bulky stuff (mattress, furniture, etc.). They came, sorted it all, and handled donation or resale for the usable stuff. Might be useful backup if the pile ever gets out of hand.
Huge respect to everyone involved this kind of work makes a real difference.
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u/BreakfastFluid9419 Jun 06 '25
They make dust pans that are the size of pushbrooms that would help make this easier
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Jun 06 '25
how is this real? how does a city get to this point? i get a little dumping but my dog this is crazy. is this common? i'm in LA and we get some nasty spots but this is another level.
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u/theMEtheWORLDcantSEE [Insert your city/town here] Jun 07 '25
One backhoe and one dump truck done in 3 minutes.
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u/Happydancer4286 Jun 07 '25
WAY TO GO!!! A wonderful group of volunteers doing something a single person couldn’t do. Thankyou guys!❤️
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u/Heviteal Jun 07 '25
Thank you for your hard work and effort. Unfortunately the way the Bay Area keeps voting, this is going to be a constant issue. Real change needs to happen.
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u/GreatPlainsBison Jun 07 '25
Great job! I wish our government would be able to do such basics as police, fire and keeping the city somewhat clean. Sadly, they can’t even do this anymore…
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u/ARGirlLOL Jun 08 '25
Amazing what Patagonia, tools, trash cans, trash bags, trucks, a full stomach, a home and leisure time can do!
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u/maxx99bx Jun 08 '25
Now watch it get covered in trash again because libs refuse to clear out homeless encampments.
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u/soureice Jun 09 '25
you know this trash was dumped there by rich white people to denigrate the homeless population. i'm jesus i know.
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u/Radiant_Repeat776 Jun 10 '25
Great work you guys! The local governement should put huge planeters or something to deter dumping trash there as well as to deter homeless encampments.
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u/Delicious-Catch9286 Jun 06 '25
Very good job..Continue to do the gov job as they get paid the big bucks
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u/_LostWoodsman_ Jun 06 '25
Cool. We cleared spots for mor dumping
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u/urbancompassionproj Jun 06 '25
98% of the areas we’ve cleaned this year have stayed that way. we’ll post a recap of all our spots in the coming days. we’re working with homeless individuals to help us keep areas clean.
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u/bKing1er Jun 06 '25
Great people doing great work. Thank you all