Val Strough has continually blown us off and lied to city officials about maintaining their lot(as you can see below). Now they are washing cars right next to the creek on Richmond Blvd.

On both of the following dates, Val Strough Chevrolet was washing cars in their lot: Oct 23, Nov 7, Nov 20, Jan 30, Feb 19, creating significant run-off, even after they promised that it would never happen again.

Here is a quote from Oakland CEDA:"Washing cars at a business where the runoff flows to the street or sidewalk is a violation of Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 13:16, and Section 8.18.080. Also, biodegradable soap cannot flow to the street or sidewalk because it is toxic until it degrades (which takes several hours), and the soapy runoff contains pollutants washed off the vehicle. The runoff from any car washing must be prevented from flowing into the storm gutters.

Illegal car washing October 6, 2002


Drain stencil , run off water going into drain

Guy washing cars, more water

Illegal car washing September 26, 2002




The same lot is also full of trash and weeds.

Note the lovely condoms
See the sequence of events below photos...




Date   Notes
06-27-02   I got a call from the inspector in charge of enforcing this area. He told me that he had given Val Strough verbal notice to clean up the lot. He said that they told him they would comply immediately. He also said that he couldn't give them written notice since they are on Caltrans property. The next step is for him to send written notice to CalTrans.
05-23-02   Took photos of lot above.
05-21-02   Vehicles appeared to have been towed.
05-16-02   Received a call from John Cooper of Val Strough regarding the trashed vehicles. He said they would be gone by 05-10-02. He also said the lot would be cleaned up asap and that there would be a new fence installed.
05-14-02   After no action was taken, filed a blight complaint with the city and contacted abandoned auto division regarding vehicles that had been sitting in lot for over a year.
04-20-02   Went to Val Strough office with a video of the lot. Spoke with sales guy "bobby" (or something like that). He told me that they would replace the fence by the end of the week and that they were going to wash the cars in the lot everyday.
04-01-02 to
04-15-02		   Left 6+ messages for Jim Wardy who was supposedly "in charge of complaints" Didn't get any response.
10-24-01   Spoke with Aaron, he said he had the lot cleaned--didn't look like they had done anything
10-3-01   Spoke with Aaron, GM. He assured me that he would clean up the lot asap.
10-2-01   Left a message for the General Manager saying that the lot needed to be cleaned up.
03-23-03   03-23-03 We held a meeting with Sue Demmings of Val Strough about a month and a half ago. The meeting included a rep from CalTrans, a person from environmental services and another City of Oakland parks and rec person. We went over to the lot and showed them what the problem is. Sue agreed that it was unacceptable and that they would fax over a maintenance plan and that they would stop washing cars. They did wash cars on one occasion since then but they stopped when we complained. They kinda cleaned the place up. We'll see what the maintenance plan is.
07-05-03   For the past week, repreated calls have been placed to Val Strough complaining about the hole in the fence and the garbage on the site. Finally, after the last call, complaining that nothing had been done and that the next step was to go to the media, we noticed that the next day the fence was fixed. Val Strough didn't seem to be particularly concerned about the quality of life in the neighborhood, but they were concerned to learn that people were getting into their yard through the hole in the fence. And, perhaps, they may have wanted to avoid adverse publicity - it's the economy.

Dates are approximate, events are acurate.