Modesto considers spending $750,000 five ways to help in the fight against blight
Modesto wants to spend $750,000 of its federal pandemic relief funding on a two-year effort to reduce blight, including illegal dumping, throughout the city.
Officials briefed the City Council’s Safety and Communities Committee on Monday about the pilot program. The committee — whose members are Mayor Sue Zwahlen, Councilman Chris Ricci and Councilwoman Rosa Escutia-Braaton — approved the program and forwarded it to the full council.
The pilot program includes:
▪ $300,000 for a solid waste abatement team of two maintenance workers equipped with a truck and a trailer. A city report states the team would pick up junk illegally dumped within three to five days of it being reported, instead of the city’s current four- to 15-day timeline.
▪ $250,000 to expand the city’s homeowner repair program in which the city provides low-interest loans to homeowners. The current program is for homeowners who make no more than 80% of the area median income, which is $57,050 for a family of four. The program spends about $300,000 annually helping 15 to 20 households. The expansion would be for homeowners who make no more than 140% of the area median income, or $99,820 for a family of four.
▪ $100,000 to buy six surveillance cameras to monitor dumping hot spots. The cameras would have license plate readers, which would help in issuing citations for the illegal dumping and can be moved from location to location. The cameras would be in addition to the three the city now uses to monitor dumping hot spots.
▪ $50,000 for beautification projects from the city’s Blight Abatement Advisory Committee. The projects would need to be approved by the City Council.
▪ $50,000 for community organizations to undertake beautification projects. These projects also would have to be approved by the council.
The council is expected to consider approving this program in the coming weeks.
The dumping of broken furniture and busted appliances along city streets and other examples of blight are among Modesto residents’ top concerns, according to the city. That includes the roughly 300 tons of dumped junk the city has hauled away annually.
Public Works Director Bill Sandhu has said about half of the 300 tons is associated with multifamily housing, from buildings with as few as five units to apartment complexes with dozens of units.
The city had hoped to get a Caltrans grant to start a bulky item pickup program for multifamily housing. It would be be similar to the program for single-family homes. In that program, residents put old furniture, appliances and similar items at their curb twice a year, and a city trash hauler picks it up.
The cost of the service is included in residents’ monthly trash bills.
Deputy City Manager Scotty Douglass said at Monday’s meeting that the city continues to work on a bulky item program for multifamily housing.
During questions from the public, Bianca Lopez asked about the city’s plans to provide tenants with assistance with repairs to their rental homes. She also questioned the rationale of citing low-income people who leave out broken furniture and appliances when they don’t have the resources to dispose of them properly.
The $750,000 is from the roughly $45.9 million the city has been allocated from last year’s American Rescue Plan Act. The city received half of the funding in May of last year and expects to receive the second half this May.
This is one-time funding the city needs to spend by Dec. 31, 2026. The city would need to find other funding if it wanted to continue this latest effort to reduce blight over the long term.
