Illegal dumping costing Milwaukee property owner thousands of dollars
MILWAUKEE - It's an expensive pile of trash. A property owner on Milwaukee's north side is facing thousands of dollars in fines for something he says he's doing everything to stop: illegal dumping.
The property owner says people have been illegally dumping in the alley for years.
He's done everything to catch them, even confronting the dumpers in the act. And now, he's the one paying for it, literally.
With nowhere to turn, he called FOX6.
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In the city of Milwaukee, it's video of illegal dumping that could get you up to a thousand dollars of reward money.
Video of one of the vehicles
"There was a huge pile of debris which I could see on the cameras," said the property owner.
That's if an illegal dumper gets a citation. But instead, it's costing the property owner thousands.
"I would say $10,000 - $12,000 just for this year," he added.
That's just this year. The most recent dumping was on Oct. 2.
He doesn't want to be identified, because illegal dumpers have threatened him in the past.
A warning sign for those illegally dumping
"I pulled up, and I took photos of the license plates and I asked the guy – what do you think you’re doing? And one of the guys came up to me and said ‘you better leave now.’ So he came up to me with a screwdriver," he said.
The property is on 91st Street. The man has put up signs, cameras, and called police when someone is in the act.
"I made a few calls to the police department – they said this is my responsibility. I made a few calls to the DNS. They told me the same thing, it's my responsibility," he said.
Now, he's getting clean up orders from the Department of Neighborhood Services. Fines that if he doesn't pay, will go on his property taxes.
A snapshot of all the junk
"I don’t know what else can be done besides blocking access, but for those who want to dump it, they will dump it," he said.
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Milwaukee Alderman Mark Chambers says he is working with the property owner to get to the bottom of it.
Chambers says his office reached out to the commissioner to figure out why the man is getting fined, and how to get those fines removed.
The city says if you see illegal dumping, call 414-286-CITY (2489) to report it, and try to get a license plate number.