The city of Los Angeles continues to fall short in its efforts to rein in illegal dumping despite efforts by Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city leaders to control the problem, according to a report released Wednesday.

City Controller Ron Galperin’s report looked at illegal dumping along sidewalks, streets, alleyways and other public areas. In some cases, businesses and individuals dump mattresses, furniture, construction materials and other trash to avoid having to pay waste removal fees.

“Businesses and individuals are dumping more and more garbage, debris and harmful substances in the city’s public-right-of-way, contributing to urban blight and public health risks and leading to a lesser quality of life in impacted neighborhoods,” Galperin wrote in a letter to Garcetti and the City Council.

Garcetti’s 2015 “Clean Streets” initiative sought to clean up the city’s trash-strewn areas by installing thousands of trash cans. Four years later, the mayor announced that more city inspectors would be added, as well as surveillance cameras, to root out scofflaws who illegally dispose of trash in downtown and elsewhere.

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