Cracking down on illegally dumped tires part of new quality of life focus, city leaders say

TACONY - Thousands of tires have been illegally dumped in Tacony Creek Park and the people engaged in the dumping of the tires had to go to great lengths to break the law.

What we know:

Instead of clean and green, it’s black and stacked in Tacony Creek Park.

Susan Stevenson commented, "It breaks my heart. This is not just an individual dumping their tires there. This is businesses with a dump truck dumping tires."

4,000 tires are estimated to have been dumped, where illegal dumpers busted the lock, ignoring the No Dumping and No Trespassing signs just off SEPTA tracks and down the deep ravine to see an ugly eyesore – a massive mound of tires, mostly filled with water and waiting to be a colossal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Stevenson continued, "I’m sure the businesses that are doing it are doing it to save a little bit of money on terms of not having to properly dispose of the tires. It’s these discount places that are trashing what is a beautiful asset."

A larger mess:

Hundreds more were seen illegally dumped Tuesday afternoon along train tracks along Torresdale Avenue.

"This is absolutely horrendous. We’re constantly cleaning up the area," Conrail C.O.O. Brian Gorton stated.

Standing in front of hundreds of tires constantly being dumped down onto the train tracks running through Philadelphia costs Conrail millions each year to clean up, Gorton said, earlier this year.

Gorton said, "It’s just a never-ending cycle. We’ll go out and clean up a couple thousand tires and the following day a couple of thousand tires are right back. It’s a never-ending cycle. This is the people from the community that are dumping onto private property that causes it to be our problem."

Quality of life:

A new effort to enforce quality of life crimes with a focus on dumping of trash, tires and construction debris on public and private property was announced Tuesday by the district attorney, with other government leaders at his side.

"What does a clean-up cost when you go to clean along the tracks?" FOX 29’s Steve Keeley asked.

"We cleaned a mile and a half in 2020. It was $1.5 million. Anytime we go out there, it’s $150,000 to $209,000 to clean up and days later, you feel you wasted the money. We do it all over again," Gorton replied.

Then he added, "We really need to find the people accountable for dumping and hold them to the highest level of the law."