Illegal dumping is a problem all across South Florida. But now the 7 Investigates team has found an illegal dump site just feet from a high school.
Seven’s Kevin Ozebek investigates.
Torn out cabinets, old furniture and even a mangled Christmas tree.
Danielle Pierre: “I see a forgotten land. That’s what it looks like. It’s a space that looks like no one cares.”
But Danielle Pierre does care.
What looks like a junk yard is just a few blocks from her home and this property is right across the street from Miami Northwestern Senior High School.
Danielle Pierre: “I see blight. I see an eyesore.”
We first spoke to Danielle in May. A few months ago, the junk dumped here was piling up including discarded Styrofoam that was blowing around the neighborhood.
Danielle Pierre: “I just couldn’t believe that I saw that: just mounds and mounds of Styrofoam all in a community.”
Miami-Dade County crews cleaned up the mess and billed the property owner who’s responsible for this right-of-way.
But now, a few weeks later, piles of trash have been dumped here again, and it’s all just yards from where kids walk to and from the school.
Kevin Ozebek: “Once it is removed, how quickly does the trash return?”
Danielle Pierre: “I would say within 45 days.”
Kevin Ozebek: “That quick?”
Danielle Pierre: “Yeah.”
Now it looks like trucks are being dumped here. Look at that old utility truck down there at the end of the street and right here behind me it looks like somebody just left a semi.
Danielle Pierre: “It’s not a parking lot, it’s not a junkyard. This is actually a street people use to get to school, get to work, buy their groceries, go to church.”
The trucks and trash are being dumped along this empty lot owned by a Texas-based company called 72nd Street XF, LLC.
Danielle Pierre: “To the property owner, we thank you for paying your taxes, but please come by and check on what’s going on at your site. Please come and clean this up.”
A company vice president tells 7News, “…we clean up the entire site, then people dump the very next day.”
And since 72nd Street XF plans to break ground on a building, we’re told “Our general contractor will soon be on site daily, and this will undoubtedly rectify the problem…”
Ron Rand, business owner: “These are tires that were dumped.”
Ron Rand understands that company’s frustrations. He owns a business in a warehouse a block away.
Ron’s surveillance camera caught someone dumping tires on his property, but Ron is the one who has to pay for them to be hauled away.
Ron Rand: “You just constantly see people driving with mattresses and dumping them and tires, and you know, enough is enough.”
Danielle Pierre: “You wouldn’t dump it where you live. Well, don’t come dump it here.”
As for the lot, that really bothers Danielle, the county has issued a new citation for trash.
72nd Street XF tells 7News it will pay to have it cleaned up, yet again.
Kevin Ozebek, 7News.
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