How I cleaned up a dumping problem in my community

There it sat. Someone had dumped a large load of debris in a parking lot at the edge of my community. The lot used to service the retail plaza, but there was a fire. The critically damaged, vacant premises occupies a future condo site. Among the items of strewn trash were tires and general garbage, heaps of it. I pulled over in my car and took a photo of it. 

​When the condominium was on the drawing board and the property owner was gearing up to get city approval, he reached out to sell residents on his plan.  Lowell was likeable and reasonable and ended up getting all the city approvals he needed to pursue his redevelopment vision. He's the "anything I can do, just call" kind of guy. 

​As a result of those consultations, I had a direct line to the property owner. Owners are responsible for the upkeep of their properties. Unfortunately, this property owner was a victim of illegal dumping.

One way to handle these problems is to report the owner using the 311 or other government complaint line. Instead of phoning 311, I emailed Lowell and reported the problem to him. That very day he went to see the mess for himself and promised to look after it. No property owner wants to see their holdings desecrated like that. He appreciated being informed by me and not a bylaw enforcement officer. True to his word, the site received the attention it needed. That's what I call great community relations.

My only difficulty is that the dumper doesn't pay a price and doesn't learn a thing. Maybe the waste dumpers (in UK they're called fly-tippers) will be deterred if they think they are being watched. Studies have shown that to be true.

I have Lowell's permission to attach Do Not Litter signs to his fence.  "Please do," he said.