NEW ORLEANS — Illegal dumping is continuing across the city. Councilman Oliver Thomas is calling for tougher penalties to be issued for those caught.
Michoud Blvd. in New Orleans East is notorious for illegal tire dumping. LA DOTD says they’ve removed 30,000 tires in the last six months. The agency says as soon as they’ve cleared away these tires, people will come back and dump more.
Gilbert Battiste has owned property in Oak Island since 1988. A realtor himself, he says this dumping is a reason the neighborhood isn’t what it once was.
Battiste said, “Its different things during different times, appliances, furniture, tires is the problem right now. Unfortunately, it’s never been given the attention that it could be given that could eliminate the problem.”
Parts of The Michoud Blvd interchange by I-10 have been closed for weeks after tires spewed across the roadway. DOTD is still trying to clear away the mess.
"There’s a wide range of material being dumped in that area," Scott Boyle from the agency said. “We have crews working in there on Thursday, Friday and sometimes on Saturday, to try and perform clean-up operations.”
Boyle says crews are only working those days as they are working overtime.
Councilman Oliver Thomas says people are using New Orleans as a dumping ground.
“Once we clean one up, somebody comes back to the same location,” Thomas said.
Councilman Thomas’s team shared pictures with Eyewitness News of an alleged out-of-state driver dumping material.
“Folk are driving through other states and other regions to bring their tires here,” Thomas said.
Colt Scrap Tire Center is processing the dumped tires.
“It's almost beyond the processing capabilities in the place where they take them,” Councilman Thomas said.
He wants penalties to be stricter.
"We have to set up traps and make examples of people...Book em’, handcuff em', seize their vehicles,” he said.
Until the clean-up is complete the on and off ramp at Michoud will remain closed, Battiste says the closure is both an inconvenience and a concern for residents.
“In cases of an emergency it could also be deadly," he said.
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