Tuesday, June 12, 2001
The EPA told the street-sweeping company toclean up the site.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Dump trucks and moving equipment were called in over the weekend to haul away debris being dumped on private property by the company handling the city's street sweeping.
Greg Alex, owner of Mahoning Light and Maintenance Co. on East Market Street, said the Summit Street site, which he owns, was cleaned up and that materials were transported to a licensed landfill.
Frank Tempesta, the city's operations director, said street-sweeping refuse will now be taken to Warren Recycling on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Complaints heard: The Vindicator learned of dumping complaints last month from Larry Young, who runs Golden Nugget Trading Post, 645 Summit St. N.W., next door to the dumping site.
He said that the fallout from the unsightly pile was making its way onto his property and that some had gotten into the nearby Mahoning River.
Also, Young said, street sweepers have attached their hoses to a city hydrant near the property and flushed them out, allowing street debris, possibly including gas, oil and brake fluid, to flow into a storm sewer that empties near the river.
OEPA warning: Andrew Thompson of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said last week that the city and Alex were told that what they've been doing is considered open dumping and needs to be cleaned up.
The agency defines open dumping as "depositing of solid wastes into a body or stream of water or onto the surface of the ground at a site that is not licensed as a solid waste facility."
Alex said his company took care of the situation and takes issue with Young's complaints, saying that Young, himself, engages in activities that cause pollution to the river. He was not specific.
Young said trucks and earth-moving equipment hauled away loads of material, beginning Saturday morning and finishing Sunday evening.
Young said the problem has been ongoing at least since 1995, when he and his wife bought their store.
"I'm happy; it looks a lot better over there," Young said. "It's just a shame we had to go through all this to clean up that small headache."
The city pays Mahoning Light $103,226 a year for street-sweeping services.