WEST ENGLEWOOD — Illegally dumping truckloads of tires, wood and other waste materials must stop, says Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who is asking residents to report anything they see.
The action is known as “fly dumping,” which the city calls the dumping of any waste material on public or private property without a permit from the Department of Public Health (CPDH). Oftentimes, the trash is made up of old furniture, construction debris, appliances, tires, yard waste and hazardous waste.
Lopez has personally driven around the 15th Ward looking for the sites. On Thursday afternoon, he went through the community, pointing out sites where materials popped up overnight.
On 63rd and Winchester, he pulled up in an alley and walked to a vacant lot with piles of fresh wood chips.
"Feel that," he said with a handfull. "You can tell this is new because it's still warm"
During the summer, he received three to five reports a day of new dump sites. He said there are more than 600 vacant lots and 850 abandoned buildings.
“Every one of them has been preyed upon as possible dump sites,” he said. “We’re quite literally in a war against fly dumping.”
The situation is getting worse, he said, adding that if the problem isn’t addressed, the city could spend big bucks trying to clean it up.
“We can spend up to half a million dollars trying to combat this in this ward alone,” he said.
He would like to see better use of the vacant lots, he said, but the first step is changing the perception of the neighborhood.
"We have to combat the perception of [West Englewood] because right now it's seen as a dumping ground and we have to change that," he said.
The items being dumped aren’t random small things, but “organized efforts,” Lopez said.
“We’re talking huge amounts and it’s costing us--every site can cost us between $1,000 or more, depending on how labor intensive it is to have a three-man crew out to clean it,” he said.
The mayor’s office and the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation are working with him to clean up the sites.
It’s more than just Lopez who wants this to end. Residents are frustrated as well.
Denalo Garcia lives on the block of 5700 South Seeley Avenue. His backyard faces an old crumbling garage full of tires, anywhere from 50-80. The only thing that separates his yard from it is a narrow alley. He’s taken it upon himself to clean it, but his actions are futile.
“I try to clean it up, but ... then in a couple of days you’ll see it right back,” he said. “I don’t want animals and rats to come to my house.”
A block away, Michael Pettis, 58, has lived on the 5700 block of South Hoyne for 35 years. The fly dumping has been going on for almost a year on his block.
“It’s ridiculous that people come over to this neighborhood and just dump stuff,” he said. “That’s what makes the neighborhood go down.”
He hasn’t been able to catch anyone in action yet. With so many vacant lots and foreclosed homes in his neighborhood, the area is a prime location for fly dumping, he said. Residents on the block are no longer tight like they were in the past so there is no organized community watch, he said.
“Everybody is out for themselves,” Pettis said. “Years ago, everybody stuck together. This was a nice neighborhood, but now it’s going down.”
Commander Larry Watson of the Englewood Police District strongly encourages people to report anything they see to local police. He said that most of the culprits will visit the same site repeatedly so any information the public can offer, such as a license plate number, or color and make of the vehicle can help.
“They tend to use the same vehicle,” he said. “If they use [the site] on Monday, they’ll use it again next Monday. The public is our best eyes and ears because you’re out there everyday.”
Dumpers are subject to fines (a minimum of $1,500 for the first offense), jail time of up to 6 months and community service of up to 200 hours, according to the city’s website. Their vehicles may also be impounded.
Lopez wants residents of his ward to know that he’s not giving up.
“We’re going to keep fighting, keep cleaning, and eventually we’re going to catch these individuals and hold them accountable for everything they’ve done trying to use our neighborhoods as their personal dumping grounds,” he said.
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