The trash pile in the golden hour of a September afternoon. Central Concrete Supply Co Inc is visible in the background. (mk30)There is a fairly large static-looking trash pile located at 26th St. & Kirkham in West Oakland.
The trash pile includes a mix of useful things (5 gallon buckets, plastic crates, clothes, wire hangers, wood, car and bike tires, furniture, etc.) and undesirable things (gross liquidy things).
We need more trash pile areas that are helpfully separated into "gross stuff" and "useful stuff" regions. Maybe some handpainted signs would help.
As of 9/28/13, the pile appears to have been removed with only a tiny pile remaining :(. Perhaps this is the seedling of a new pile?
6/8/14: A new pile emerges from the ashes of the old (see photo below).
3/3/2018: Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney comments on a See Click Fix thread shedding light on the informal relationship which exists between the adjacent neighbor CASS and the city's street cleaning team. Her take is that this trash pile is a net benefit to the neighborhood because it consolidates trash from elsewhere.
4/18/2019: Nearby resident Dustin Hoffman presents a plan at the West Oakland Neighbors meeting to build a community garden on the site of the trash pile once ownership is determined and permission granted.
5/23/2019: Central Concrete Supply Co (business adjacent to the trash pile) installs cement barricades around the pile to contain it, further formalizing the informal waste transfer station.
8/30/2020: A sign commemorating the trash pile is erected, it is inexplicably removed the following day.
If you'd like this pile removed, I highly recommend submitting something to seeclickfix which seems to be the fastest way to get anything done in Oakland. (external link)
The pile is in a lot near the Central Concrete Supply Co (seen above). Right around it you'll find the Kirkham graffiti wall, a large Mark Bode mural, and a smaller mural by Deb.
trash pile on November 10, 2013, complete with sofafree (greenkozi)
trash pile on 6/8/14 (mk30)
6/27/14 photo by mk30
3/3/2018: Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney comments on a See Click Fix thread 
5/23/2019: Central Concrete Supply Co installs cement barricades around the pile
8/30/2020: Commemorative sign
8/30/2020: Commemorative sign
Useful things made from this pile:
I used some wire hangers I found here in September 2013 to build a bicycle saddle bag.
