- Sam Allard, Scene Magazine
Via City Hall, Mayor Frank Jackson will hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. to announce a revamped effort to crack down on illegal dumping in Cleveland.
"Whenever possible, the City...will seek felony indictments to hold illegal dumpers accountable for their actions. Illegal dumping threatens the health of our residents and forces the city to use limited resources to inspect these properties and often facilitate the clean-up. Illegal dumping impacts the overall quality of life of those who live, work and play in Cleveland," read this morning's press release.
Scene covered the issue of illegal dumping in a story this March about the East Side's tire refuse problem. And for the record, we resisted the ongoing urge to make poop jokes. In that piece, Ward 1 Councilman Terrell Pruitt said that the tire-dumping solution had to come in the form of legislation. This is a step in the right direction, and hopefully more than a symbolic gesture for election season.
In neighborhoods Pruitt represents, tire dumping remains a small-scale problem, but catching the bigger fish with felony indictments — guys like William Daniel, who operated an illegal dump on E. 131 St. — sends the appropriate message to opportunistic dumpers citywide.
