11-04-2010, 02:04 PM
Illegal Dumping - The Problem Solving Workshop
Just got home from a five hour session hosted by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth. It was held at the county conference room in Hilo. About twenty people attended including a number of police officers and representatives from Recycling, Public Works, Mayor’s Office and Department of Motor Vehicles. I can't name everyone that attended but it did include Councilman-elect Fred Blas, Maddie Green, Rene Siracusa, Lisa Yang, Cynthia Young, Mike Hale and Christine Waters.
I didn’t realize at first that it was a Problem Solving Workshop . I thought it was an illegal dumping public conference. In essence it was a combination of the two.
The Problem Solving Workshop aspect had the process on the front burner and was an extensive and at time tedious process of analyzing a problem from the perspective of government as an organized path toward solutions. The fact that the selected problem was illegal dumping gave me enough purpose to stay. I am not naturally enamored of being taught thinking processes and find them to be restrictive. In my mind there are two approaches to problems in organizational thinking. One is Process Oriented Solutions and the other is Goal Oriented Solutions. I prefer goal oriented. The Problem Solving Workshop was process oriented.
So as we were drawn into the process there were ascending levels of analysis of various aspects of illegal dumping. Stake holders, victims, offenders, visions, objectives, obstacles Those attending were divided into three tables and each chose a specific illegal dumping problem.
I was at Table One with Fred Blas and the selected problem was repetitious dumping of household waste, abandoned cars and dead pigs within the Nanawale subdivision. Almost all my notes are from Table One. So if other attendees read this feel free to expand your your tables ideas.
Table Two selected abandoned cars in WaaWaa.
Table Three selected an illegal rubbish site on the Red Road referred to as “The Hole”.
I won’t and can't bore you with line by line detailing of the lists that were made. There were a lot of lists. It took four hours to approach the subject of proposed solutions.
Table One, Nanawale dumping: There was broad discussion of the limits of prosecuting illegal dumpers. Apparently to commit a felony one has to dump ten cubic yards of trash in a location, otherwise it is a misdemeanor. Only two cases of successful prosecution of this misdemeanor charge could be recalled by Mitch Roth. The police officer at Table One could think of no occasions when someone was arrested. I stated that talking about increasing penalties for dumpers that no one sees or can identify much less prosecute seemed fruitless though it made legal sense (process oriented).
At Table One I suggested that the problem in Nanawale should be looked at that the public (which included illegal dumpers) was in effect making their own solution to inconvenient hours and locations to dispose of rubbish. It was a messy solution and unacceptable but repetitive dumping in locations was a sign of people making their own solutions. Therefore instead of trying fruitlessly to catch them, the alternative might be to get large dumpsters and place it at locations where people are already dumping or as close as practical. This can be done by the Nanawale Homeowners Association with a grant from Matson. Puna Makai only has three transfer stations. maybe we need more... like nine. The other six can be dumpsters placed in the dark quarters of heavy illegal dumping. It might be a good community driven, private sector solution. Perhaps a pilot program which could later be embraced by the county. Fred Blas and most of our table seemed attracted to this theory.
Table Two was focused on abandoned and burned out cars. The DMV representative pointed out a couple interesting facts. 1) at every yearly car registration renewal $12 goes to an abandoned vehicle fund. Are we getting full service from that money? A couple million dollars? 2) When a vehicle is sold the seller sends in a signed statement which notifies the DMV that the car is sold and absolves the seller of further liability. But that paperwork is not signed by the buyer and therefore the chain of liability can fall off a cliff into oblivion making it hard to hold thepurported “owner” of an abandoned vehicle accountable. Paperwork leading nowhere.
Table Two suggested that some sites where cars are regularly abandoned or burned could be blocked from access with landscaping or logs. There was also a suggestion to somehow establish a minimum value of $200 for a junk vehicle thus making it more economically viable for removal. Improving the legal chain of ownership seemed a no brainer - a case where more state paperwork might be very productive.
Table Three was focused on The Hole: This table was across the room and I was able to catch the least there. I recall some good broad based suggestions such as having “white goods” (appliances) somehow carry an identifying number to track ownership. In my mind they already do - it’s a serial number - but there is no methodology to track back to the seller or manufacturer. There was also an interesting suggestion of attaching “redemption fees” to all imported items which are not readily recyclable. To some degree this exists with cars, tires and batteries - with some success. The fact that illegal dumping occurs close to transfer stations seems to indicate that the county policy of locking up transfer stations twelve hours a day is counter productive. Might make sense as a process but is ignoring the goal. Having poor access to waste disposal of appliances and ewaste contributes to illegal dumping. Having transfer station hours shifting around and closed during the most demanding holidays serves the process perhaps but not the public.
So this is a summary. It is not a complete record. I hope others who were there will help me refresh the discussion. I also hope that those who are interested will contribute ideas and suggestions toward a community solution.
We already dealt with “hang em”, “shoot em”, “brake their arms”.... so more practical ideas are to be encouraged. Dead pigs were discussed.
Mahalo to Mitch Roth for doing what he does so well.... bringing community activists, county officials and concerned residents together to find answered to a problem that has accompanied mankind for thousands of years. Mitch leads the charge but the community must participate.
Mahalo also to all those who took the time to attend. I believe there will be at least one more session.
Just got home from a five hour session hosted by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth. It was held at the county conference room in Hilo. About twenty people attended including a number of police officers and representatives from Recycling, Public Works, Mayor’s Office and Department of Motor Vehicles. I can't name everyone that attended but it did include Councilman-elect Fred Blas, Maddie Green, Rene Siracusa, Lisa Yang, Cynthia Young, Mike Hale and Christine Waters.
I didn’t realize at first that it was a Problem Solving Workshop . I thought it was an illegal dumping public conference. In essence it was a combination of the two.
The Problem Solving Workshop aspect had the process on the front burner and was an extensive and at time tedious process of analyzing a problem from the perspective of government as an organized path toward solutions. The fact that the selected problem was illegal dumping gave me enough purpose to stay. I am not naturally enamored of being taught thinking processes and find them to be restrictive. In my mind there are two approaches to problems in organizational thinking. One is Process Oriented Solutions and the other is Goal Oriented Solutions. I prefer goal oriented. The Problem Solving Workshop was process oriented.
So as we were drawn into the process there were ascending levels of analysis of various aspects of illegal dumping. Stake holders, victims, offenders, visions, objectives, obstacles Those attending were divided into three tables and each chose a specific illegal dumping problem.
I was at Table One with Fred Blas and the selected problem was repetitious dumping of household waste, abandoned cars and dead pigs within the Nanawale subdivision. Almost all my notes are from Table One. So if other attendees read this feel free to expand your your tables ideas.
Table Two selected abandoned cars in WaaWaa.
Table Three selected an illegal rubbish site on the Red Road referred to as “The Hole”.
I won’t and can't bore you with line by line detailing of the lists that were made. There were a lot of lists. It took four hours to approach the subject of proposed solutions.
Table One, Nanawale dumping: There was broad discussion of the limits of prosecuting illegal dumpers. Apparently to commit a felony one has to dump ten cubic yards of trash in a location, otherwise it is a misdemeanor. Only two cases of successful prosecution of this misdemeanor charge could be recalled by Mitch Roth. The police officer at Table One could think of no occasions when someone was arrested. I stated that talking about increasing penalties for dumpers that no one sees or can identify much less prosecute seemed fruitless though it made legal sense (process oriented).
At Table One I suggested that the problem in Nanawale should be looked at that the public (which included illegal dumpers) was in effect making their own solution to inconvenient hours and locations to dispose of rubbish. It was a messy solution and unacceptable but repetitive dumping in locations was a sign of people making their own solutions. Therefore instead of trying fruitlessly to catch them, the alternative might be to get large dumpsters and place it at locations where people are already dumping or as close as practical. This can be done by the Nanawale Homeowners Association with a grant from Matson. Puna Makai only has three transfer stations. maybe we need more... like nine. The other six can be dumpsters placed in the dark quarters of heavy illegal dumping. It might be a good community driven, private sector solution. Perhaps a pilot program which could later be embraced by the county. Fred Blas and most of our table seemed attracted to this theory.
Table Two was focused on abandoned and burned out cars. The DMV representative pointed out a couple interesting facts. 1) at every yearly car registration renewal $12 goes to an abandoned vehicle fund. Are we getting full service from that money? A couple million dollars? 2) When a vehicle is sold the seller sends in a signed statement which notifies the DMV that the car is sold and absolves the seller of further liability. But that paperwork is not signed by the buyer and therefore the chain of liability can fall off a cliff into oblivion making it hard to hold thepurported “owner” of an abandoned vehicle accountable. Paperwork leading nowhere.
Table Two suggested that some sites where cars are regularly abandoned or burned could be blocked from access with landscaping or logs. There was also a suggestion to somehow establish a minimum value of $200 for a junk vehicle thus making it more economically viable for removal. Improving the legal chain of ownership seemed a no brainer - a case where more state paperwork might be very productive.
Table Three was focused on The Hole: This table was across the room and I was able to catch the least there. I recall some good broad based suggestions such as having “white goods” (appliances) somehow carry an identifying number to track ownership. In my mind they already do - it’s a serial number - but there is no methodology to track back to the seller or manufacturer. There was also an interesting suggestion of attaching “redemption fees” to all imported items which are not readily recyclable. To some degree this exists with cars, tires and batteries - with some success. The fact that illegal dumping occurs close to transfer stations seems to indicate that the county policy of locking up transfer stations twelve hours a day is counter productive. Might make sense as a process but is ignoring the goal. Having poor access to waste disposal of appliances and ewaste contributes to illegal dumping. Having transfer station hours shifting around and closed during the most demanding holidays serves the process perhaps but not the public.
So this is a summary. It is not a complete record. I hope others who were there will help me refresh the discussion. I also hope that those who are interested will contribute ideas and suggestions toward a community solution.
We already dealt with “hang em”, “shoot em”, “brake their arms”.... so more practical ideas are to be encouraged. Dead pigs were discussed.
Mahalo to Mitch Roth for doing what he does so well.... bringing community activists, county officials and concerned residents together to find answered to a problem that has accompanied mankind for thousands of years. Mitch leads the charge but the community must participate.
Mahalo also to all those who took the time to attend. I believe there will be at least one more session.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
Punaweb moderator