50th Street between Warrington and Springfield (Photo by West Philly Local reader Rachel K.)
West Philly Local readers are concerned about illegal dumping on 50th St. between Springfield and Warrington and have written us to express their frustration.
Rachel K. writes:
“I’m just sick of the dumping on my block. I have reported dumping five times since I moved into our new place in June (long time West Philly resident). It’s usually tires and construction debris (on top of the standard litter we ALL deal with). I tried CLIP for a surveillance camera, but they said because it is a heavily trafficked area the solar charged cameras will be drained before morning… so not an option. I’m so frustrated…”
Rachel says she has called the Streets Department in the past and today she used this Streets Department form to report the problem. Please note that the form should be used for reporting illegal dumping on streets and sidewalks only. If you want to report illegal dumping on private property, please contact 311 (or tweet to @philly311).
We’ll keep you posted if using the Streets Department form has solved this particular problem (and please let us know if it worked for you). But what can residents do to prevent it from happening over and over again? Well, if you witness someone disposing off of large amounts of trash you are encouraged to report it to the police (please don’t approach and confront that person or persons). Here are the instructions from the Streets Department on how to report illegal dumping:
“If you have specific information of a person who is illegally dumping, please contact the appropriate Philadelphia Police District and ask for the Code Violation Notice (CVN) trained officer. If possible, please provide a description of the vehicle and plate information such as licensing state and tag number. You can use Citymaps to find the Philadelphia Police District.”
February 11th, 2014 at 1:12 pm
The police district is going to tell you to call 911 as the districts don’t dispatch officers, not even community relations officers, themselves anymore. The Streets Department needs to update its website.
I ran into the issue where the dumping was being done south of Baltimore (12th district) but where the police could find me to take the report was north of Baltimore (18th). If you don’t want to stand around the site of the dumping until the police respond, be careful you may be dealing with the wrong police district.
February 11th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
When is the city going to do something about 4809 Chester? The building has been a dumping ground for garbage and old appliances for years, and the sidewalk has been destroyed for well over a year now. How can a home owner get away with that?
Nearby Squirrel Hill park has also been used to dump old building materials.
February 11th, 2014 at 3:35 pm
You can report the house on 4809 Chester Ave to L & I using this link. I do it myself on occasion but so far nothing has changed. Hopefully if they get enough fines they’ll clean it up!
http://www.phila.gov/li/Pages/ReportaProblem.aspx
February 11th, 2014 at 3:38 pm
As far as Squirrel Hill Park is concerned it is being dumped in by it’s OWNER, Friends Rehabilitation (the apartment building on 48th that it’s attached to). I know some residents volunteer to clean it up from time to time (I’ve been one of them) only for it to be dumped in again when they refinish a new apartment in the building. Perhaps a resident working with Friends Rehab with see this and shed more light…
February 11th, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Someone, possibly the same people, have been dumping tires on the on/off ramp to the Cobbs Creek Parkway and 65th st. I saw this on my way home today and just shook my head. These people suck.
February 11th, 2014 at 10:28 pm
4809 has been a “issue” for many years, not just one year. I can understand why the City can’t force the owner to finish construction on that so called house, but I don’t understand why the pile of trash hasn’t been handled by one means or another. Frankly I’m surprised that the lords at UCD haven’t sent one of their trucks over there.
February 13th, 2014 at 11:01 am
The man at CLIP also told me tires in particular have been a problem since the city stopped the tire pick-up program for local shops.
February 16th, 2014 at 5:07 pm
There’s a cubbyhole on the Springfield side of the 45th/Baltimore Sunoco station where tires and other stuff tend to collect as well. More unnerving are other sorts of “dumping,” i.e. human (the images of which I won’t upload for the sake of everyone’s stomachs); not to mention the drivers of cars who pull up to the same area and stop, even leaving their headlights on as they unabashedly relieve themselves against the
porch of the occupied house next door.
Is this a common problem in “University City”? It’s always seemed like the situation around here is unique.