In many ways, the bonus megaevent-focused State of the City address that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass delivered earlier this month felt more like a re-election campaign rally. Even the date, days before the filing deadline, seemed like a chance to articulate her vision and solidify her support ahead of any late-declaring challengers. (She got one, but not the one she was preparing for.) Hundreds of bold-faced names schmoozed as young PlayLA athletes played soccer on the Expo Center lawn; I spotted Councilmember Tim McOsker and Sam the Olympic Eagle grooving to "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)." Bass both walked on and walked off to "I Love LA" — completing the immaculate throwback vibes imbued with a healthy dose of sports-will-save-us optimism.
The timing was also intended to recruit for the mayor's next Shine LA, the monthly beautification days where volunteers spruce up the city ahead of those megaevents. (Not to be confused with LA's World Cup host committee's upcoming beautification days, or LA28's own volunteer program which is launching later this year.) In the speech, Bass announced that the next Shine LA location would be Hansen Dam, selected because it had just been picked as an official World Cup fan zone. Even Dave Grohl would be there!
I've expressed my reservations about Shine LA — so we're only cleaning up around venues now? — and the timing — are these venues really expected to stay clean until mid-June? — but I was intrigued by this section of Bass's speech. Bass recognized Juan Naula, whose community cleanups at @CleanLAWithMe have gone viral; a kind of homegrown Shine LA that's not framed around megaevents."Now, I don't know if you've seen them on social media," said Bass. "But let me just tell you, they are doing an incredible service in our city and we not only applaud you, we want to support you, but we also want to join you."
Getting someone like Naula, who responds to cleanup requests all over the city, to collaborate on Shine LA was an interesting idea. But when I reached out to Naula, he said while he appreciated the mayor's attention to picking up trash, Shine LA wasn't an effective way to do it. "They don't go where the trash is," he told me. "And why can’t they do every Saturday? I do every Saturday. They are the government, I’m just a guy."
Clean LA With Me's Juan Naula (center) got a shoutout from Karen Bass, but would prefer not to be cleaning LA
Naula came to LA 15 months ago from Virginia, and before that Cuenca, Ecuador, a city that, he says, despite being located in a much poorer country, is much cleaner than LA. When he arrived here, he found himself wading through the plastic waste that accumulates on LA sidewalks like snowdrifts, questioning his life choices. This is the fourth-largest economy in the world? he remembers thinking. Are you fucking kidding me?
After he started organizing cleanups — the most pervasive refuse: Starbucks cups, which are conveniently labeled with the names of the offending Angelenos — Naula quickly encountered another municipal barrier: the city's new 311 app hasn't been reliable, so when he arranges the collection of dozens of bags of collected trash, the bags get left out for days, and the trash gets, shall we say, redistributed, all over the block. He's started hauling the bags of trash to nearby dumps which can cost him $150 per trip. This can add up, he says, but it's worth it knowing the streets he cleans will stay clean. (He often returns to the same sites over and over.)
I tried to convince Naula that the city didn't always look like this. It was actually a lot cleaner just a few years ago, something that's actually pretty easy to see for yourself just by using the time-travel feature in Google Street View. I know, I know: billion-dollar budget hole, department vacancies, we're supposed to expect a dramatic decline in services. But it's funny how the same department can coordinate the delivery of 70,000 unwanted green bins but now can't seem to pick up a bulky item within a week's time. My 311 requests that used to take a few days are routinely taking 14 days or more. Council field deputies will tell you to ping them so they can dispatch their own office-funded cleanup teams, but how would most Angelenos know to do that? In a way, Naula is filling the city's services gap by launching his own complaint-based system.
The State of the City wasn't Naula's first time being recognized by city officials. Last month, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez — who has been raising the alarm about the shortcomings of the new 311 app — invited Naula to speak at a council meeting. He used the opportunity to appeal directly to the Department of Sanitation. "I have a lot of complaints with the 311 app," Naula said. "Please, when I make a request, all I'm asking is come pick up the trash. I'm not asking anything else.”
Naula also warned the council that he would continue to use his enormous platform to shame them as LA took the global stage. "You want to present this city to the world?" he asked. "I'm not going to stop. I'm going to film the trash and show the world how dirty we are."
Now he's got plenty of subject material and plenty of time; Naula quit his job to make trash pickups his full-time career. What he needs is more resources. He was gifted a truck which makes it easier for him to haul during pickups, he says, but it gets horrible gas mileage.
Naula wanted to make it clear how much he loves this city; his wife and son have just arrived from Ecuador to build a new life here together.When he heard Bass talk about why people come to LA, he felt seen. "When the world looks at LA, they won’t just see venues," she said in her speech. "They will see our values, the diversity of our people, and all that our neighborhoods offer, including our restaurants and food trucks, our stores, and our cultural richness. And we will be ready because of the people who show up, day after day, and take care of this city."
But that last line, Naula and I agreed, hit the exact wrong note: Bass should have been praising her own municipal workers for keeping the city clean — not volunteers.
Naula had another question about Bass's megaevent vision. Last week, the mayor announced something called the Clean Corridors Initiative, a plan to "accelerate beautification efforts along major city corridors... especially near where World Cup watch parties will take place." (Again, are we really just cleaning up around watch parties?) He's trying to get more details — but he isn't feeling optimistic. This week, Naula posted drone footage of Main and 23rd Street, the sidewalks heaped with trash that trickled down into the gutters: "Mayor Karen Bass announced clean corridors for this year's events. We're unsure who is responsible for this specific area. Is this part of the corridor?" 🔥
🚯 LA has a whole culture of "trashers" (complimentary) like Juan who are keeping streets clean. Picking up trash feels good and it's a great way to meet your neighbors. You should do it! But we also must fight for the better municipal services we deserve. Watch my UCLA talk about LA's priorities
💬 Speaking of city services, that agreement with LA28 is still not inked for 2028. Join SAJE's Chris Tyler and Neil deMause for the next Torched Talks on Thursday, February 19 at noon to learn about all the options we have to turn a bad deal into a less-bad one
📰 And have you checked out this week's Hot Links? Paid subscribers can come to Torched anytime during the week where you'll have access to the latest headlines, commentary, and analysis — updated daily!
"An Olympics and Paralympics security plan that gives control to a federal administration that is already attacking immigrants in our city and across the nation puts our entire community at risk"
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker
