DAYTON — There is help on the way to clean up trash that people dumped illegally across Ohio, with some of it in the Miami Valley.
News Center 7’s John Bedell talked to the city of Dayton about one of its problem illegal dumping sites, and the money it just got to pay for cleaning it up.
The city got a cut of the more than $1 million in grants from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The money will be used for the entire block of Delphos Avenue near West Third Street.
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The city said five properties are among the many historic legacy dump sites.
Tim Pritchard, Sustainability Specialist for the City of Dayton, said, “With a tremendous amount of debris, vehicles, tires, drums, etc., and have attracted additional dumping from residents that see it as a dump site.”
He said Dayton applied for a grant with the Ohio AG’s office for its latest round of money to help combat illegal dumping in Ohio neighborhoods.
“(The) City of Dayton has a lot of legacy dump sites,” Pritchard said. “This is one of quite a few that are out there. It’s a priority for the City of Dayton to address these, but it requires finding funding to be able to catch up. So we’re incredibly grateful to the Attorney General’s office for the Shine a Light (on Dumpers) program and for the grant that will allow us to make a lot of progress. Especially for the Westwood residents who have been very vocal about this particular set of properties and the nuisance that it’s caused their neighborhood. So we’re happy to have the opportunity to step up and address that.”
The money comes from settlement dollars from the AG’s office. Dayton’s application was for about $92,000 worth of cleanup at the Delphos properties.
“We anticipate receiving the majority of the funding, but we don’t have a final number yet,” Pritchard said.
The specific illegal dump cleanup project is one Pritchard said the city wouldn’t be able to do without the financial assistance from the state AG’s office.
“It’s incredibly important because illegal dumping and litter have a direct impact on the residents that live in these neighborhoods. You know it creates a safety issue. At the very least, these dump sites have a lot of tires, etc., our mosquito breeding grounds,” Pritchard said. “They create a psychological detriment for residents that live in that area and have to see that on a day-to-day basis.”
Between this year and last year, the city of Dayton received $140,000 in grants from Ohio’s AG office to help clean up illegal dump sites.
Pritchard told News Center 7 that’s an extra $140,000 that’s not in the city’s budget for this important work.
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