Some Baltimore residents are fed up after their street has turned into an illegal trash dump. A couch, food wrappers and a car mat are just some of the things found alongside Bonner Road.
"Trash bags just full of trash, just random miscellaneous items that shouldn't even be out in the woods," neighbor Romello Patrick describes what he sees along his street.
Queenie Green has been living next to this illegal dumping ground for years. She said she has reported it before but the problem keeps coming back.
"The garbage and trash draws rats," Green said.
The city definitely knows about the area.
"It dead ends at a wooded area and it's a favorite spot for criminals frankly who have trash to get rid of," spokesman for the Department of Public Works, Jeffrey Raymond, said.
He said city crews went Monday to help clean up but the problem is, some of the trash is on private land.
"When it's private property, we can't just walk into someones yard and start cleaning up. We have to have a right of entry," Raymond said.
Raymond recommends calling 311 to report any trash drops so the city can track hotspots. He said they are also working to bring fines down on the polluters whenever possible and neighbors can help.
"To the extent that people can get license plate numbers of the vehicles that come by and dump, that's a big help right there," Raymond said.
The department also wants to make it easier for unpermitted small haulers to get rid of trash legally so it's looking to add another place to drop off loads.
"It's going to take some planning and some resources to make it happen but we know it's a success and we want to make sure that's offered as much as possible across the city," Raymond said.
The potential new drop-off place is in addition to the Northwest Transfer Station, which was put into the Small Haulers Program last year.
It's all in an effort to bring relief to a community that knows it's much more than a dump.
"It makes me feel terrible because it makes our neighborhood look bad. When people are riding through and they see this, the neighborhood looks bad," Green said.
