Mayor Matt Mahan, City Councilmembers and San José residents addressed the issue of hazardous bike lanes obstructed by waste products, illegal dumping and dumpsters at the weekly Tuesday City Council meeting.
The councilmembers discussed an audit report on the Integrated Waste Management Enforcement program, run by the San José Environmental Services department.
The Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team (IWM) oversees collection, processing and disposal of solid waste and enforces solid waste regulations, according to a webpage document from the City Auditor’s Office.
San José city auditor Joe Rois said he conducted the audit after it was requested by the administration.
“The objective of this audit was to evaluate the Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team’s service delivery,” Rois said.
Rois said the Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team also has the responsibility of administering education, and outreach about regulations and municipal codes with the San José community.
“The team conducts inspections of businesses and residents primarily based on what complaints they receive from the public,” Rois said.
The team has five different positions, four inspectors and one supervisor, who responds to complaints, talks to residents and businesses about solutions, according to a webpage from the city auditor.
The cases reported usually involve dangerous accumulation, improper set out of containers, illegal hauling and other issues, according to the same webpage.
Rois said there has been a decline in the number of complaints filed with the Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team.
In 2018 and 2019, cases were at about 1,500 per year and have had a big drop from 2020 to now, according to a webpage from the city.
“In 2022 the team handled about 840 cases overall. The largest single category of cases was related to dangerous accumulation,” Rois said.
In the first half of 2023, each Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team inspector was conducting about 2.3 inspections per day, which is below expectations, according to a webpage from the city auditor.
Rois and the councilmembers also discussed their expectations and future goals to increase productivity for the Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team.
New responsibilities, such as outreach or enforcement related to new legislation or existing ordinances, have been added to the team’s tasks already, according to the webpage document from the city auditor’s office.
Updating procedures would enable the team to better reach communities that may have underreported solid waste violations and tailor outreach materials appropriately.
Kerrie Romanow, the Director of the Environmental Services Department for the city of San José, said her department intends to improve almost all the unresolved points mentioned and use recommendations to improve proactiveness and effectiveness of the team.
San José resident Jordan Moldow said he supports most of the recommendations made, but has concerns since both the report and the recommendation mention nothing about trash collisions.
Moldow said he is worried if the report is accepted as is, the Integrated Waste Management Enforcement Team might downplay problems pertaining to illegal or hazardous bike lane issues.
“A man was killed in May while using a San José bike lane when his scooter struck an improperly placed brush pile and he was ejected,” Moldow said. “This was a preventable tragedy, but sadly this represents the status quo. We need an immediate change before more lives are lost.”
Moldow said he see’s bike lanes obstructed by bins and dumpsters daily, which he said can be a hazard at night when they’re less visible.
He said most dumpsters are always placed on top of bike lanes which is a violation of city law.
“If cyclists leave the bike lane, they are at risk of car collisions,” Moldow said. “Many seem ignorant or indifferent to bike lane safety.”
Paul Soto, San José resident and frequent speaker at City Council meetings, said he has relied on biking for almost 40 years and has never owned a car.
Soto said he's faced the same issue of a bike lane obstructed by trash cans very often and it’s something that puts him at risk when he's on streets with people driving at a high speed.
“If I'm going at a high rate of speed, and I make a swerve to move out of the way I end up moving into a traffic lane,” Soto said. “If the timing is just right and a car is coming full speed behind me when I make that room to move out the way from the trash cans, boom.”
Soto said out of fear for his own safety and for others he wants to see more resolutions for this issue on future agendas.
He also said he wants Vision Zero of San José to pay close attention and he wants to see policies addressing these issues instead of rhetoric and useful outcomes from their funding.
Visions Zero is a division in the City of San José administration dedicated to improving roadways and putting in safety measures.
Martin Delson, San José resident, said the city should consider getting expert help or advice on this issue by consulting organizations like the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition.
The Silicon Valley Bike Coalition is an organization and a community of bikers who aim to make bicycling safe and accessible to everyone and encourage biking for all purposes, according to their website.
“The city has put a lot of effort into building bike lanes, but very little effort into keeping them actually usable,” Delson said.
Romanow said because residents are technically allowed to put their trash bins directly outside their home even if it’s on the bike lane, city inspectors would not enforce any policy if they see it because it is not considered a violation.
“We advise residents to put their containers and yard waste out into the area in front of their home, if that includes a bike lane that is an acceptable use of the public roadway,” Romanow said. “Not to say I think that's our best answer. It's just to say that it is allowable and it has been something that we've been doing for decades.”
Romanow said there is still certainly room for improvement and plans to strategize on how to make the best use of public infrastructure to ensure everyone’s safety and also keep trash cans accessible to city workers.
Mahan said he thinks this issue deserves a lot of additional thought and attention, as he often gets called out to address the issue through social media.
“I frequently get tagged on Twitter with photos of garbage cans or garbage trucks in bike lanes,” Mahan said.
Councilmember Omar Torres also agrees it’s a concern in the downtown area.
Torres said the issue needs to be explored, he says he often encourages people from his office to report whatever hazardous obstructions they see on Instagram.
“There's actually an entire Instagram page dedicated to the blocking of lanes in Downtown San José,” Torres said. “Because of the analytics it always pops up on my feed so I see it almost everyday.”
Councilmember Dev Davis said she regularly sees yard waste and dumpsters in bike lanes.
Davis said that Romanow’s response explaining that nothing can be enforced to change is not the right answer.
Romanow said garbage collectors have a specific time to work and urging protocols for more enforcement is not the best solution compared to finding a different place for dumpsters to go.
“As we look to re-design the residential and commercial garbage systems, certainly, that gives us an opportunity to create a system where they’re [dumpsters] not in the bike lane,” Romanow said. “But in between those 8-10 years, I don't know that we can enforce anything until we have a different solution.”
Davis said waiting eight to 10 years for resolution is too long and urged Romanow to review with her team and come up with options.
Mahan said policies the department makes will have to balance different interests and consider different needs and the differences in regions of San José.
He said laying out rules and enforcing them is the kind of complexity that will require thought and will come back to a committee for further discussion.
“We’ve got to reduce the amount of obstructions in bike lanes, particularly along roads where people are driving 40 to 50 miles an hour,” Mahan said. “If we want people to use bikes to get around. We just have to do better as a city.”
After discussion the motion was passed unanimously by all councilmembers to continue searching for efficient options to keep bike lanes safe.
