Van Caught In The Act Dumping Garbage On City Property; Neighbors Are Fed Up
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a church, not a dump site. But you wouldn't know from looking at it.
Folks with the church caught fly dumpers in the act, but they just kept dumping. And it's not the first time.
Bags of trash, wood, even an old toilet were all dumped on city property Friday, inches from the church that chooses to maintain the land. They're sick of it and tell CBS 2's Tara Molina they want a real fix.
Demetria Hayden and her husband, pastor Wesley Hayden of Love Unlimited Christian Ministries Center, don't know what the garbage is doing there. What they do know?
It's been going on far too long.
"This is something that has been going on for years," Demetria Hayden said. "They just come over here and they just dump stuff like this in the lots."
Those lots are owned by the city, but maintained by the church.
The Haydens said they've been cited for it before. Now, they say enough is enough. This time, they caught the dumping on camera.
"We noticed a van pull up and they just started emptying trash," said Raven Barksdale, who reported the fly dumping.
She told CBS 2 the people behind this were so bold, they didn't stop, even when they saw her taking pictures.
The photos show a company logo clearly, so CBS 2 reached out to MorGas.
After what they called an investigation, they sent over a written statement, saying in part: "This truck does not belong to us. The truck might have been used in the past to distribute our products and that is why it has our logo."
MorGas went on to say they examined records from the past three years and confirmed that vehicle hadn't been operated by the company during that period.
"We at MorGas highly recommend looking up the car owner and hold them accountable for this incident. We would like here to confirm that our company follows strict measures related to the environment as well as public health and safety according to rules and regulations in force."
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) said he's already reported this and the city will find out who was behind the wheel.
"Chicago is not your dumping ground," Lopez said.
The problem keeps getting bigger and more expensive. Lopez said the ward spent almost $250,000 last year on the problem.
He advised calling the city immediately if garbage is seen dumped so it can be removed and so "nobody else gets the bright idea" to contribute.
Lopez said this has been addressed by the city and they'll be out to clean this up in the next couple days.
