Construction garbage dumped on city street

A huge heap of garbage was dumped next to St. John's Park on Monday, leaving about five tons of broken glass, wood and bulging garbage bags on the street.

Brad Esslinger said he was driving down St. Cross Street Monday morning when he found the road closed to traffic and a large amount of trash dumped in the middle of the street.

Esslinger said he spoke with city crews who worked for hours to clean the mess.

"The city guys told me they were really irked, and they figured what had happened is someone had come with a big trunk and just emptied it. There was garbage just everywhere. It was a mess," Esslinger said.

"The city workers were saying to me, 'We saw this one coming.' I guess without the big bins, they knew this would be a problem."

Esslinger, who lives in the area with his family, was also angry.

"I take my kids to that park 'cause it's nearby our house. We love it, and for someone to just dump their trash on it like that with no regard for the park, it just makes me upset," he said.

The garbage appeared to come from a contractor and was dumped Monday and removed from the area Tuesday, a City of Winnipeg statement said.

Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie said he wasn't surprised by the incident, and he wants a big, stinking fine to curb those looking to unload their junk on others' property.

"People caught dumping their garbage should be fined $5,000, the maximum amount. Otherwise, people are just going to keep doing it if there aren't any consequences," Eadie said Thursday.

Eadie, who voted against the city's new master garbage and recycling plan in October, said the city's autobins were notorious for attracting home-improvements materials. Removing the bins won't curb the illegal dumping, he said.

"Just because they don't have the big Dumpsters anymore doesn't mean these contractors are going to stop. They don't want to haul their stuff all the way to Brady Landfill, so they just dump it anywhere. Even though I voted against the plan, my family and I have used it correctly," Eadie said.

A city spokeswoman said there has been no increase in dumping incidents since the autobins were removed.

"Parks are not experiencing any higher amounts of garbage being dumped... as a result of the deployment of waste bins," communications officer Alissa Clark said in a statement Thursday.

katherine.dow@freepress.mb.ca

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