L.A.’s trash vigilantes
By Sam Quinones
When the city doesn’t keep up with ever-mounting piles of garbage, these residents step in.
Every Wednesday, Sabine Phillips pedals her yellow beach cruiser around a 12-square-block strip of Hollywood’s east side, filling her notebook with the locations of discarded couches, mattresses, old TVs, cabinets, aquariums, wall paneling, and just plain trash, reporting it to the city’s 311 service line. For this, plus picking up three or four bags of trash every weekend, she earns $800 a month.
