DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
WHERE/WHEN APPLICABLE
RESPONSES
TESTIMONIES

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Illegal dumping is a major problem in many areas of the Heart of the City. Dumping attracts crime, creates the impression that an area is dangerous and uncared for, and discourages community use of public spaces. Dumping can also detract from community pride.

Materials that are dumped illegally are also likely to be hazardous. People dump hazardous waste because they don't want to exert the effort required to dispose of environmentally harmful materials properly and/or to avoid municipal fees. When new materials are banned from state landfills, those materials are more likely to be dumped in the streams, vacant lots, and protected areas in the Heart of the City. For example, in April 2002, Massachusetts became the first state to ban the picture tubes found in televisions and computers from entering its landfills. As a result, dumping of TVs in the Heart of the City has risen.

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WHERE/ WHEN APPLICABLE:
Austin Street:
This grassy alley off of American Legion Highway in Mattapan across from Franklin Park has historically attracted illegal dumping, as well as drug use and other illegal activity. In 2000, the City made efforts to clear the rubble, but some dumping continues.

Commuter rail:
The land around commuter rails, in particular the Needham Branch line through Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, and the Fairmount line through Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, attracts illegal dumping. Sometimes waste materials are dumped off the edges of commuter rail overpasses, such as the secluded overpass at Blakemore Street in Roslindale. Dumping also occurs in commuter rail land along the edges of public spaces such as Pagel Playground. Another area that attracts significant dumping is along the highly accessible strip of land adjacent to the Fairmount Commuter Rail in the Erie Ellington neighborhood of Dorchester along Greenwood Street. Dumped materials here include abandoned cars, an abandoned boat, tires, and other trash.

Canterbury II Urban Wild/ Canterbury Street:
The unproductive space along Canterbury Street (a private road) near the intersection with Morton Street at the southeastern edge of the Forest Hills Cemetery is a major dumping ground. Large household appliances, rotting lumber, and auto parts are among the discarded items that are splayed out under a grove of oak trees.

Boston Nature Center:
Although the Boston Nature Center in Mattapan has made tremendous efforts to improve the quality of the environment for visitors to its Wildlife Sanctuary, and although the State employs a security guard to prevent abuse, illegal dumping still occurs there. In 2002, dumping occurred not only along the edges of American Legion Highway and Morton Street where the fences are broken, but also in the inner sections of the sanctuary. Dumped materials included large items such as refrigerators and stoves, as well as smaller items such as tires and small trash.

City compost facility on American Legion Highway:
The City compost facility has attracted significant dumping, including one confirmed instance of hazardous materials. Rubber roofing material that was dumped into the compost facility cost the City approximately $13,000 to clean up.

Boston State Hospital site as a whole:
In part because of its many years of disuse, and in part because of the broken fences along roadways that invite abuse, dumping on the Boston State Hospital site is problematic. In 2002, the State employed a security service to prevent illegal dumping in the area, and the staff from the Boston Nature Center has also worked to confront illegal dumpers.

Canterbury Brook:
The Canterbury Brook, which flows through Roslindale and Mattapan, is heavily burdened with dumped materials. There is a heavy build-up of bottles and cans at some points along the brook, particularly within the eastern campus of the Boston State Hospital site. The shores of the brook along American Legion Highway are strewn with trash on both sides, and the brook itself is contaminated.

Vacant residential land:
Problematic clusters of vacant residential land that have attracted dumping include the neighborhood just north of Franklin Field in Dorchester (particularly Browning Avenue and Kingsdale Street); the lots on Elven Road and Claxton Street across from the Archdale Village public housing development in Roslindale; the section of Grove Hall directly behind the Jeremiah Burke High School on Geneva Street; and the corner of Fabyan Street and Harvard Street in Mattapan/ Dorchester.

Norwell Street and New England Avenue in Dorchester just east of the Fairmount Line railroad tracks have been known as two of the worst illegal dumping sites in Boston, in large part due to an illegal trash transfer business that was operated by a squatter out of a vacant home through February 2002 ("Alleged illegal garbage firm shut down," The Boston Globe, Feb. 8, 2002).

Informal urban wild in the Oldfields Road area of Grove Hall:
Informal urban wilds such as the grassy meadow and forest behind the Jeremiah Burke High School between Geneva Street and Stanwood Street can attract illegal dumping. This value of this rare natural area in Grove Hall is compromised by the car seats, tires, and appliances that are piled up there.

Morton Street/ American Legion Highway connector:
This short roadway connector between Morton Street and American Legion Highway -- two major roads -- is a dumping ground and considered dangerous by some residents. There are shopping carts, appliances, car seats, barrels, boxes, and smaller debris in the woodlands along both sides of the road. Materials dumped on the southern side of the connector flow directly into a tributary of the Canterbury Brook.

Paine Street in Roslindale:
Dumping on Paine Street, which runs along the northwestern edge of Mt. Hope Cemetery, has occurred up to two times a week in recent years. The Boston Globe reported one incident where two men dumped enough bags of tiles and flooring to leave a quarter-mile trail of trash behind them (Beth Daley, "Mass seeks to curb illegal dumping," The Boston Globe, Aug. 17, 2001).

Vacant buildings:
The now vacant former hospital on Brookley Road, which is located in the Stonybrook neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, has been a dumping ground despite the fences around the abandoned building. A number of buildings on Blue Hill Avenue, in particular one industrial building complex in Mattapan on the western side of the street adjacent to the Wellington Hill community, have attracted significant abuse.

Francis Parkman Drive:
Although the illegal dumping problems on Francis Parkman Drive in western Jamaica Plain are less serious than the problems in other parts of the Heart of the City, some dumping does occur here. This is a designated Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) parkway.

Arboretum Road tunnel in Roslindale:
This tunnel could connect a high-density residential community in Roslindale to the Arnold Arboretum. A generation ago, residents used the connector. However, as of 2002 it is filled with loose boards, styrofoam pieces, tires, nails, pieces of cardboard, and other types of waste material.

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RESPONSES:
A number of successful strategies have been employed in the Heart of the City to transform unproductive land that attracts crime and dumping into productive land that is used by communities and increases property values. These include the creation of community gardens on vacant lots; putting up protective fencing around vacant lots; and painting murals on the boarded-up windows of abandoned homes. Signage, high fines, and increased vigilance from law enforcement agents have also been somewhat effective in combating illegal dumping.

The City of Boston has cleaned and fenced certain drug-related buildings that might attract dumping and given them a special "Project Pride" designation. 

In an area near American Legion Highway in Mattapan in 2004, Mayor Menino visited a site where 200 tons of illegally dumped debris recently was cleared away. Afterwards, Menino made a commitment to crack down on illegal dumping in the city by announcing a new initiative that will increase the fine for illegal dumping, improve lighting, and install cameras in 35 well-known dumping sites. The Mayor also said the city will clear vacant areas of overgrowth and dense weeds (Kevin Joy, 'Menino Vows Crackdown on Illegal Dumping Mattapan Site Unsettles Officials, Angers Neighbors,” The Boston Globe, May 22, 2004).

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TESTIMONIES:
"One time, it was more than 50 tires. We need to find out who is doing this" (Alexandra Keller, Paine Street resident, from an article by Beth Daley, "Mass seeks to curb illegal dumping," The Boston Globe, Aug. 17, 2001).

"The place that frustrates me the most [in the Heart of the City] is the little connector road between American Legion Highway and Morton Street that is filled with trash" (Julie Brandlin, director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary).

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