Abandoned boat on 2nd Street SE

One of the many benefits of living in my Congress Heights neighborhood is being surrounded by a lush green space maintained by the National Park Service. It gives our urban neighborhood a very country feel and is home to a diverse collection of wildlife including deer, foxes, raccoons, wild turkeys, and a bald eagle or two. The downside: illegal dumping.  Often under the cover of darkness (but not always) "dumpers" patrol our streets looking for a place to stash their tires, couches, construction debris, and occasionally  a boat alongside the roads next to the forest. 2nd (between Orange and Newcomb) and 4th Streets SE have been especailly hard hit. The dumpers range from individual litter bugs to "professional" dumpers with pick-up and mack trucks.

This morning while walking the dog, I saw a bright metallic blue dump truck with a grey emblem (wings perhaps), parked next to the woods near the corner of 4th St SE and Mellon Street. Weird place for a mack truck to be, then I saw that  right next to and behind the truck was a new pile of tires and other junk. This latest deposit is only three blocks down, and in full view of the  Ward 8 Councilman's house.

A lot of times our East of the River neighborhoods get a bum wrap for the state of our streets, and sometimes it is an internal problem and sometimes it is due to outside forces that are contributing to the blight. Not sure what can be done to combat this problem but action needs to be taken. There has definetly been an uptick in the frequency and types of commercial dumping on 2nd and and 4th Streets SE the past few weeks.

Pictures taken today near the corner of 4th & Mellon Streets SE