The Brief<\/p>\n
Crankstart, a foundation in San Francisco, is investing $9M over three years toward Oakland’s fight against illegal dumping.<\/p>\n
Part of the initiative is to help fund things like AI-assisted aerial imaging technology to identify dumping hotspots.<\/p>\n
Law enforcement is also boosting efforts to go after prolific dumpers.<\/p>\n
OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee<\/a> and city officials on Thursday announced a $9 million, three-year investment by San Francisco foundation Crankstart<\/a> to help address illegal dumping.<\/p>\n “This is going to lead to more economic activity also in our city,” Lee said at a City Hall news conference. “The partnership with Crankstart shows what’s possible when we refuse to accept the status quo.”<\/p>\n Money from Crankstart to fund cameras, aerial imaging, larger trash bins<\/p>\n What we know<\/p>\n The investment will more than double the city’s illegal-dumping cameras from 35 to 85, deploy AI-assisted aerial-imaging technology to identify dumping hotspots and boost the size of residential trash bins as part of a pilot program.<\/p>\n “We’re not naive at Crankstart, at least we’d like to think we’re not,” said Eli Bildner, the company’s vice president of operations. ” We know that this is a maddeningly hard problem. We know that success isn’t guaranteed.”<\/p>\n Oakland Deputy Police Chief Anthony Tedesco had this warning: “We are going to end your anonymity. We’re going to pull you out of the shadows, and we are going to take the problems that you are dumping on our doorstep back to your doorstep.”<\/p>\n