Modesto not getting $1 million Caltrans grant in its fight against blight
Modesto won’t be getting a $1 million Caltrans grant to reduce the dumping of broken furniture, busted appliances and other junk throughout the city.
The city applied for funding through Caltrans’ Clean California Local Grant Program. The program helps cities, counties and other jurisdictions reduce waste and debris in public spaces, beautify public spaces, improve public spaces for walking and recreation and advance equity for underserved communities.
Caltrans had $296 million to award and announced this month it had awarded funding to 105 grant applications, including $2.87 million to Ceres for improvements at Smyrna Park. A Caltrans spokesman said his agency received more than 300 applications, seeking $758 million.
Modesto had planned to use its grant for two projects: launching a bulky item pickup program for apartment complexes and other multi-family housing and beautifying a bare strip of land it owns in west Modesto that children use on their way to and from school and that other people use as a dumping ground.
The bulky item pickup program for apartments and multi-family housing would be similar to the program the city provides residents of single-family homes.
These residents can put out old furniture, appliances and similar items along their curbs twice a year and a city trash hauler will pick them up. The cost of the service is included in residents’ monthly garbage bills. More information can be found at www.modestogov.com/373/Bulky-Item-Pick-Up.
Public Works Director Bill Sandhu said in a February story that he estimates roughly half of the 300 tons of illegal dumping in the city each year is related to apartments and multi-family housing.
He said the city would use $200,000 to $300,000 from the grant to start the bulky item pickup program. That would cover the cost of developing the program and subsidizing it for the first year. The cost then would become part of a property’s garbage bill.
Asked why Modesto couldn’t start a bulky item pickup without the grant, Sandhu said in February that the city does not have the funding. He said if the city was not awarded funding, it would continue to look at its options to start a program and to beautify the land it owns in west Modesto.
Modesto officials did not respond by deadline to a request for an update on its efforts to fund these two projects.
The city property is a roughly 12-yard-wide, 100-yard-long stretch of dirt that connects Rouse Avenue with Yellow Pine Drive. It also connects neighborhoods to elementary schools, shopping, parks and bus stops. But it also is a prime example of blight that requires the city to often respond to reports of graffiti, litter and dumping.
Caltrans spokesman Anthony Presto said while there is no more money for Clean California projects, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed an additional $100 million for another round of grants as part of his 2022-23 budget proposal.
