RICHMOND, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced the launch of a $1.5 billion statewide litter and trash cleanup initiative will target highways and transportation stations across the state that are currently “too damn dirty.”
“Time to use our tax dollars a little bit more appropriately,” Newsom said during a visit to Richmond, the San Francsico Bay Area leg of a cleanup campaign road trip across the state. “People want to see the results of their hard work.”
The program, titled Clean California, is a three-year effort to “clean up garbage statewide, beautify the state’s transportation network, educate the public about the harms of litter, and create long-lasting litter deterrents,” according to a governor’s office summary of transportation funding in next year’s state budget.
The initiative will create thousands of jobs for homeless people, veterans and former inmates, the governor’s office says. If successful, Clean California could eliminate 1 million cubic yards and 17,000 tons of litter, according to the budget summary.
“The hope is to train folks for career pathways up and down the state,” Newsom said. With the one-time funding, Newsom said he hopes to create about 11,000 jobs.
The initiative will also create grants for beautification of train and bus stations and provide funding to local artists and students across the state. It is complemented by $12 billion plan that aims to create safer housing and shelter for people living in homeless encampments, according to the budget summary.
Newsom said the $1.5 billion total price tag is a long way from $80 million earmarked for cleanup a couple years ago. California lawmakers approved a $286.2 billion budget in late June for the new fiscal year that began July 1.
The governor had already visited Richmond once in May, when he first proposed the cleanup program. At that appearance, he and other local officials picked up trash around Barrett Avenue near Interstate 80. Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia, who attended Wednesday’s press event, said the city has uniquely dealt with illegal dumping off highway overpasses.
“We need more money to do this work, but the money isn’t the only thing — it leverages getting community involvement,” Gioia said in an interview after the event.
Asked about his own reasons for choosing Richmond as the cleanup campaign’s Bay Area stop, Newsom said he loves the city and region, noting that his family’s San Francisco heritage extends several generations back. He also praised Gioia’s local leadership on the issue.
Captaining the initiative is the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, an agency that has previously drawn criticism for displacing unhoused residents by clearing encampments on state property. At Wednesday’s event, the governor maintained that sending homeless people to better living situations is the ethical move.
“There’s nothing compassionate about people living in encampments — period, full stop,” he said. “For people that advocate on behalf of those living in encampments when this state is putting up unprecedented resources and alternatives, one has to question the motivations.”
The event was held at a park and ride on Hilltop Drive in Richmond, across Interstate 80 from the Courtyard by Marriott Richmond Berkeley. Homeless people have been sheltered at that hotel during the coronavirus pandemic through the state-funded Project Roomkey program.
Jobs involved in the cleanup initiative will include both labor and supervisor positions, Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin said at Wednesday’s event. He and other officials introduced Terry Billingsly, a Caltrans employee and Sacramento native who praised the agency for giving him a career path after he was released from incarceration 18 months ago.
“During this time, I’ve gotten married to my dear wife Jennifer, I’ve been reunited with my children, I have a home in Valley Springs (in Calaveras County), I have a bank account, a Harley — life is good,” Billingsly said.
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