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| Cleanup crews take job to clear infractions |
| By Dug Begley |
| Published: 04/14/2009 |
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The van is packed with people, but eerily silent. Nobody in the van wanted to be at the Caltrans maintenance yard in Riverside at 7:15 a.m. on a Tuesday. The only person in the van who's smiling is Lindy Boland. It's her last day being forced to pick up trash on the side of the road as part of a highway cleaning crew. "I never want to do this again," Boland says as she picks up a paper cup on the side of westbound Highway 60, just before the Valley Way exit in Rubidoux. Probationers rarely have a say in what they do. Sometimes a judge tells them they'll work at an animal shelter. Sometimes they get sentenced to wear an orange vest and clear trash and brush from the roadside. That's what happened to Boland, 30, of Hemet. Rather than fight a fraud charge in court and face a harsher punishment, she agreed to a nine-day stint on a work crew. Workers say the work isn't difficult but it is grueling at points. Even on a pleasant day, baking in the sun for eight hours in long sleeves, jeans and a nylon vest can get hot. "I used to laugh when I was driving down the freeway and saw guys doing this," sighs Casey Walton, 29, as he chips away at a small thicket. "I'm not laughing now." As a freeway construction worker, Walton says he's used to the type of work. But that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. "By the end of the day, you really are tired," adds Moises Jacobo, 33. "Being out here all day, it's too much." But there are benefits. Chris Oliver, 28, says it beats previous stints he's had at animal shelters, where the work literally cages him in. "I like being outside," Oliver says, before adding he'd rather be outside doing something he wants to do. Workers learn quickly how to deal with it, Walton says. Working too slowly makes the day drag on forever, he says, but working too fast means he's carrying too much of the load. It's not a feverish pace all the time. With a dozen workers spread out over a roughly 200-yard work area, it's possible to slack off. Chuck Garvin, who oversees the community service team as a Caltrans maintenance supervisor, says he understands the hearts of many workers might not be in the task, but as long as some work is getting done, everything works out. "A guy not working very hard is one thing, but it tends to spread," Garvin says. "If it becomes contagious, then it's a problem." Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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