WEST SIDE Decaying waste odor puts residents in rotten mood

The dumping fight is frustrating because it's not the tidy neighborhood's first.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- When the south wind blows, North Hazelwood Avenue residents close their windows.
The rotting yard waste odor is too much to take, and residents who live near Tippecanoe Avenue are tired of taking it.
"You can't keep your windows open. It really stinks," said Dorothy Balog, who lives across the street from some of the West Side dumping.
Landscapers apparently are dumping grass clippings and tree limbs on two spots at Hazelwood and Tippecanoe. One is a commercial building at the corner, the other across the street in an entry to an empty industrial lot.
James Vitez, who has lived a few houses from the intersection since 1957, has called the police several times and gotten the city property code enforcement office involved but seen no results so far.
The fight is frustrating because it's not the first for the tidy neighborhood of ranch-style houses. In the late 1990s, residents battled, and largely conquered, trash dumping nearby on Salt Springs Road. Many neighborhood residents are older and struggling with health issues and don't need the hassle that illegal dumping brings, he said.
"We're trying to keep this from happening here," Vitez said. "We're trying to keep it clean."
What's going on
Trucks come late at night or early in the morning a few days a week and dump the waste, neighbors say.
Landscapers and others think they can dump in the entry to the vacant lot just because it's open space, said Dolores Bralish, who lives next door.
A fresh load of tree branches was piled about 10 feet from the street recently, just a day after a city code officer said the property owner was given a deadline to clean it up, Bralish said.
Various piles of grass clippings, dirt and gravel were piled on the lot at the commercial building in recent weeks.
The building hasn't been a problem until the owner starting leasing space to a landscaper, Vitez said. Grass clippings and other yard waste that starts on the building's parking lot often ends up pushed over a drop off behind the property, he said.
Vitez has spoken to the property owner but the tenant hasn't stopped dumping, he said.
"We don't want to run anyone out of business, but we don't want to make a dump out of it, either. We have investments here," Vitez said.
Mike Damiano, city property code enforcement and demolition director, spoke to the building's property owner and the tenant late last week. The tenant is promising to clean up any mess within a few days, he said.
If they don't, Damiano will issue citations, he said.
He is advising property owners to erect "no dumping" signs. Sometimes debris left out for a few days attracts other dumpers who think adding to the pile isn't hurting anything, but that's not acceptable, he said.
"This isn't a landfill," Damiano said. "It's B.S."
rgsmith@vindy.com