El Cerrito's Dirty "Hot Spots"

El Cerrito’s dirty hot spots

Compiled by Dave Weinstein, chairman of the city of El Cerrito’s Environmental Quality Committee’s Community Involvement and Outreach Subcommittee

Note: The good news is, most residential areas in El Cerrito—90 percent perhaps of the town—are quite clean! Also note, in connection with our list of dirty schools—they are all the public schools. The private schools look nice!

This guide was developed to help focus our efforts on community cleanups with the goal of creating volunteer teams to keep El Cerrito the cleanest and greenest town in the Bay Area.

PUBLIC AREAS, NON-CITY-OWNED:

1. Plaza BART Station.
2. Del Norte BART Station
3. On- and off-ramps to I-80, a close second. Cutting Blvd. off-ramp is the only one in the city. Central Ave. we may want to clean even though it is in Richmond because it sets a bad tone for arrivals in town.

 PUBLIC AREAS, CITY-OWNED:

1. The Ohlone Greenway, one of the dirtier public places in town, a major problem that the Green teams have been systematically tackling through regular cleanups
2. ; dirtiest places are the “hidden” hillsides
3. outdoor areas and parking
6. , that distressingly ignored small park behind Fairmont School and the El Cerrito , needs help with general maintenance, improvements, and periodical cleanups.
7. , especially tennis courts
8. , one of the cleaner ones
9. , especially the area across from Portola school
11. . No one ever cleans all the trash beneath the trees on the hillside. Also it gets messy along Pomona.
12. , one of the cleaner ones
14. , one of the dirtier ones, along with every place along the Greenway

SCHOOL DISTRICT:

1. . The rear hillside at Portola is particularly trashy.
2. . Trash on all sides of this school; the trash that falls into the fence along Ashbury Avenue never seems to be cleaned.
3. can get messy especially on the Ashbury median and along the tennis court. (Though it’s better than it was a few years ago, which might mean something.)
4. . Not as bad as some, but the hill beneath needs watching, as do areas alongside the playgrounds.

COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS:

1. Strip shopping centers and other commercial areas along San Pablo Avenue and nearby streets.
2. A handful of empty commercial lots along San Pablo Avenue and some recently abandoned retail sites.
3. Various medians in the commercial section of town: One, San Pablo Avenue;
4. Various medians in the commercial section of town: Two, Fairmount Avenue
5. Various medians in the commercial section of town: Three, Central Avenue
6. ’s empty lot, at Carmel and Fairmount, often picks up trash and since it’s used as a de facto park, we should pass through occasionally.
7. Eastshore Boulevard and Potrero area. This big-box store area is trash central, and where it hits the I-80 underpass is one of the vilest places in town.

RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS:

1. Colusa Avenue as it curls past Sunset View and the EBMUD reservoir is out of sight and therefore out of mind with the expected trashy results; but not that bad.
2. , along the Arlington, often catches trash from folks in passing cars

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