'CleanStat' Program Aims To Clean Up LA's Dirtiest Streets

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Four percent of Los Angeles city's blocks are considered dirty, filled with loose trash or piles from illegal dumping, and need immediate cleaning.

That is according to a recent study that's rated every block in LA on a cleanliness scale from 1 to 3 for clean, somewhat clean or not clean.

Inspectors from LA's Bureau of Sanitation spent months looking for blocks of the city besieged by mountains of curbside waste, trash, and weeds.

What they found was both good and bad after visiting every single city street and alley, they found that 61 percent of LA's blocks are considered clean, 35 percent are somewhat clean and 4 percent are unclean or dirty.

As the mayor put it, those "dirty" blocks are "basically a pigsty."

Mayor Eric Garcetti is leading LA's war on grime.

"Four percent are places where we have so much trash that neighbors and people who live in that area feel bad about where they live," Garcetti said.

He says tracking the trash is step No. 1.

The city's new "CleanStat" program will update cleanliness scores four times a year, using dash-cam video and GPS tracking to rate every city street and sidewalk so crews know where to spend the most time and money cleaning up.

Sanitation officials, City Council members and community leaders will also meet every month to decide the trash targets.

Right now, more than half of the dirtiest streets are in East, South and Central LA.

Neighbors can call 311 to set up a pickup or report trash on their street.