Illegal trash dumping has become a huge problem in Cleveland, council member says

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Neighbors reached out to 19 News because trash dumping has gotten out of control, and they have had enough.

“Who would want to live near something like this. It’s unacceptable,” said local community activist Kimberly Brown.

Someone is deliberately dumping trash in this Cleveland neighborhood, nasty debris, and it appears to be growing by the day on this empty lot where a house once stood on Benwood Avenue.

Kellum Turner, who is the father of three daughters, moved next door four months ago and, according to him, nothing has changed.

“When I first saw, it was a lot of stuff over there. It was bad. Now, it has gotten worse,” said Turner.

Ward 1 Councilmember Joe Jones is eager to eliminate this eyesore.

“If you see illegal dumping in our community, I want to know about it,” said Jones.

The Ward 1 boss didn’t avoid our 19 News Troubleshooter team. As a matter of fact, he welcomed us, alerting him to this nasty problem.

“I really appreciate you, Ronnie, and Channel 19 for bringing this to my attention. We have a lot of illegal dumping coming from contractors happening in Cleveland, and we have to set the tone that this is our city.”

And Jones claims he is doing just that, piece by piece. According to the councilman, the city has removed more than 60,000 tons of trash at illegal sites.

He even moved fast on Benwood Avenue by starting a clean-up just hours after we told him.

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