Neighbors, property owners losing fight against dumping in Dayton neighborhood

“I hope there’s no dead bodies up here anywhere,” half-joked Victoria McNeal, president of the neighborhood association of nearby Riverdale as she stood in the alley.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Lamance, McNeal and others say the property has been a problem for more than a year. At one point someone cleaned it up some, but then it got worse, they say. Waste Management couldn’t access the overflowing dumpster there because the alley was blocked with furniture.

Lamance said she has complained to the city and tried to reach the owner, but to no avail.

“I would really like housing inspection to come out and document and cite the owner, and to have them clean it up. Not pay a fine. Clean this up,” Lamance said.

The property is an example of how illegal dumping is a unceasing frustration not only for the residents of some neighborhoods — but also for the developers who say they are trying to improve them.

Property owner: ‘We’re doing everything we can’

After being contacted by the Dayton Daily News, the owner of the property said they were sending a crew to clean it up — as they have nine times in the past year.

“Our problem is every time we get it cleaned up and we get a fencing company to put a fence around it, there’s more trash and they won’t put the fence up,” said Patty Parsley, spokeswoman for the property owner. “We’re doing everything we can to prevent the illegal dumping.”

She said their plan at this point is to haul away the roughly four dumpsters of trash that’s there and post someone on the property to keep away dumpers until they can get a fence around the parking lot. “We just don’t know what else to do,” she said.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Montgomery County property records show the 19-unit apartment building in the 100 block of Santa Clara Avenue was purchased for $500,000 in August 2020 by an entity called 674-676 WHIMBREL LLC.

State business records show that entity was incorporated in November 2019 by Murali Ramalingam of Columbus. Those records list Cardinal Stake Management, represented by John A. Johnson of New Albany, as a partner. Johnson is also owner of Access Hospital Dayton, a local psychiatric hospital.

Parsley, speaking on behalf of Johnson, said their plans were to renovate that apartment building and rent it out, then maybe do the same with a few more in the neighborhood. But squatters and illegal dumping have prevented contractors from safely accessing the property, delaying work and leaving them less certain about investing more in the neighborhood.

“It’s been an uphill battle since we bought the property,” she said.

She said she feels sorry for neighbors dealing with the trash, and encourages them to call police to report dumping if they see it.

The current owners have not pulled any permits for work on the property, according to city of Dayton Building Inspection officials.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

City Housing Inspection records show there were complaints and calls for service regarding rodents, overflowing dumpsters and trash in the alley throughout last year. This year, city records show a report of trash in March and a complaint about illegal dumping in November.

City spokesman Bryan Taulbee said the city cleaned up the alley in November, and a follow-up inspection Wednesday led to another cleanup being scheduled for Thursday. No property owner was cited or charged because much of the trash is in the alley, not on private property.

Taulbee said the city will inspect again to see if another cleanup is needed, and may install cameras at the site as they do in other areas to discourage repeat dumping and catch perpetrators.

‘It’s been going on for years’

Gloria White, president of the Santa Clara Neighborhood Association, said issues like this have plagued the area for years — not just Santa Clara, but any neighborhood dealing with vacant, dilapidated houses and out-of-town property owners who can’t be reached.

“These types of things go on all the time,” she said. “It’s been going on for years.”

She said the city needs to tear down more blighted properties and aggressively enforce illegal dumping rules.

Neighbors to the apartment building say the current property owners evicted the few renters in the building last year, and in the summer put a fence in the front to keep squatters out of the building. The fence has a sign on it saying the area is monitored by video surveillance.

Gucci Oswald lives in an apartment next door. He said he used to pay people to pick up the trash along his property line, but finally gave up.

“Any time something gets cleaned it’s replaced by somebody random. Like through the nighttime there’s people from all over God knows where coming and dumping out truck beds of trash,” he said.

He said people think: “Oh we got these old mattresses, we got an old couch, take it to the alleyway over there because there’s already enough trash that nobody would care.”

The city of Dayton’s website calls illegal dumping an “inexcusable crime,” that carries penalties of up to $1,000 in fines and six months in jail. It says illegal dumping can be reported on the city’s website or by calling (937) 333-4800.

The website says resources to help with illegal dumping include scheduling neighborhood cleanups, reporting it to housing inspection, and calling the city to schedule a bulk waste pickup.

As she surveyed the trash-clogged alley, McNeal said maybe if more people complained it would force the city to do more.

“I don’t understand why people don’t speak up around here,” she said. “It’s a lot of trash.”

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OTHER WAYS TO HELP

Source: City of Dayton