Last modified March 8, 1996
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On Saturday, November 11, 1995 "Contra Costa Times" Newspaper staff writers Robert Oakes and Rob Shea reported on page 3A in an article entitled "Caltrans Cuts Open Doors for Graffiti on the Highways" that, "If drivers think some East Bay freeways look a little scuzzy lately, they're right."
According to the reporters who spoke to Caltrans, Caltrans feels they are fighting a losing battle against graffiti and litter. Complaints of graffiti are up but Caltrans has NO money to clean it up. Complainers get form letters apologizing for the non-responsiveness but get little else. In the Monument Blvd., Contra Costa Blvd., and Buskirk area this is painfully obvious. Litter and graffiti are all over the Cal Trans controlled right of way. Neighbors have repeatedly asked that the area be kept clean, weeds brought under control, and graffiti removed to no avail. Residents have asked the City of Pleasant Hill to intercede but Pleasant Hill has also not met with success.
Caltrans blames the problem on a 5.9 million shortfall. What these reporters didn't say in the article was that, last month, because of apparent poor project management practices, Caltrans lost a five million dollar law suit filed against them by the owners of the Contra Costa Center Shopping Mall at Buskirk and Monument. One has to wonder where the real problem is.
What do the citizens of California and our communities have to put up with? Is "no" an acceptable answer to, "Please clean the walls?" Read this newspaper article and you just might want to write the Governor.
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Last modified March 8, 1996