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July 16, 2008

Dumping angers North Hill residents

By Jenna Staul

William Ritchie said he is tired of driving past the heap of trash on the side of Boyles Avenue.

Ritchie, who lives on Canyon Street off the Boyles Avenue extension, said the garbage pile continues to accumulate. That is despite nearly a year’s worth of phone calls to New Castle’s police and public works department and several “no dumping” signs in the area.

The pile — which includes old couches and tires — has not been removed in nearly three months and people continue going to the site, dropping off garbage, according to Ritchie.

“Several times I went and brought a blue bag and tried to clean it up myself,” Ritchie said. “I’ve even offered to throw away some of the stuff myself.”

In the absence of public works and police intervention, Ritchie said, he keeps watch over the street.

“I watch out all night to try to catch them,” Ritchie said. “But they’ll do it anyway in broad daylight when I’m at work.”

And he said the trash is more than just an eyesore.

“On a hot day it really stinks,” said Ritchie, who claims the piles have caught fire in the past.

“I’ve filled up my recycle bins probably 10 times with this stuff.”

Joe Scrim, city public works director, said while he is troubled by illegal dumping on city property, unless an individual is caught in the act, nothing can be done.

“It would be nice to catch them and cite them,” Scrim said. “But if they can’t get caught — it would be nice to have cameras to catch them in the act.”

Scrim said public works has cleaned up the trash on the side of the Boyles Avenue extension twice. He said the city is too overwhelmed by illegal dumping sites to regularly clean locations such as Boyles Avenue.

“We try to work it into the routine maintenance,” Scrim said. “I certainly don’t like seeing these properties dumped on. It’s a problem that has been ongoing.”

Rosemary Henderson, who lives on Neshannock Boulevard, said she is concerned about a growing pile of broken up concrete on a hillside down the street from her home — again despite the presence of “no dumping” signs.

“You’re hurting the environment,” Henderson said.

“There are chemicals in that cement that are going in the ground. You know how much cement it will take to fill that hillside?”

Scrim said he had given one of Henderson’s neighbors permission to dump cement along a hill off Neshannock Boulevard, saying he had looked at the load and determined the materials were safe to dump.

Dumping on city property is allowed if permission is received and if materials that qualify as “clean fill,” such as gravel, cement or soil, are used.

“As far as clean fill, yes,” Scrim said. “If it will eliminate the erosion problem and they get permission, then yes.”

Scrim said private property owners sometimes ask for clean fill to aid erosion problems.

“But it has to be clean fill,” said Scrim, who has the authority to give residents permission to dump.

“You need to ask. You can’t just indiscriminately dump wherever you want.

“It’s the exception rather than the rule,” he continued. “I certainly don’t encourage it.”

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