MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Piles and piles of garbage have been littering a notorious street in Hialeah, but what’s finally being done to clean it up?
Two weeks after Local 10’s story first aired, Northwest 107th Avenue in Hialeah still looks quite bad.
The piles and piles of trash are still present from Northwest 154th Street to West 114th Terrace.
It was Hialeah resident Nelson Garcia who first alerted Local 10 News to the problem with a video he posted to Instagram.
“It’s become the new norm, he said. “People just come here and they dump and it keeps piling up. It’s disgusting, it’s unacceptable.”
Local 10 took footage of the road and showed it to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Environmental Crimes Unit.
Sgt. Chris Garcia confirmed that over the past five years, more than 100 people have been arrested for illegally dumping there, but the problem persists because the trash is still there, sending the wrong message to would-be litter bugs.
“You have to get this clean,” he said. “This trash gets trash. If you leave it there, people are going to think it’s okay.”
So why hasn’t it been picked up?
For two weeks, Local 10 has been pressing the city of Hialeah for answers, but so far, all we’re getting is a lot of political finger pointing over who really bears the brunt for cleaning the mess up.
In a statement, the city said:
“The City of Hialeah has been working in coordination with Miami-Dade County, as the roadway in question falls under county jurisdiction. As part of this effort, Hialeah offered trucks and advanced technology to support waste collection. However, it is the County’s responsibility to provide an appropriate site, free of charge, for final waste disposal—a request that has thus far been declined by county authorities.”
But the county pushed back, affirming in a statement:
“The Miami-Dade Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM) has reviewed the location where the illegal dumping has taken place in the Hialeah/Hialeah Gardens area and has determined that the identified location does not fall within its service area. As such, the area would not fall under the jurisdiction of DSWM Enforcement or collection, and DSWM would not be responsible for taking enforcement action, collecting or disposing of the illegally dumped waste piles. For your reference, Section 15-13 of the Code explains that the Department shall collect waste from “any part of the unincorporated municipal service area.” Similarly, Section 15-1(l) defines the County-wide solid waste service area, clarifying that while the Department provides disposal facilities throughout Miami-Dade, direct curbside service is limited to Unincorporated Municipal Service Area (UMSA) and certain municipalities that contract with the County for these services.
“The City of Hialeah and the City of Hialeah Gardens are incorporated municipalities that operate and manage their own solid waste collection and enforcement services. Because they are not part of the County’s designated Solid Waste Collection Service Area, and they do not contract the County for these services, DSWM does not have jurisdiction to provide collection or enforcement within those municipal boundaries. Additionally, Miami-Dade County is not currently engaged in any negotiation with the City of Hialeah or a joint action plan.
“Once the responsible party has removed the waste items from the site, they have the option to take the waste to one of the County’s disposal sites for disposal, for a fee. The non-contract disposal rate per ton is $113.19.”
Hialeah Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves responded with an additional statement Wednesday:
“As the Mayor of Hialeah, one of my priorities is to keep Hialeah beautiful. I am aware of the illegal dumping that is severely affecting the Hialeah Heights area. I am working with Mayor Yioset De La Cruz from Hialeah Gardens in setting up a joint task force between Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens Police to join forces to enhance the patrolling efforts in that area.”
“Although the trash is alongside a Miami-Dade County road, because it affects the Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens residents, I have authorized our staff to clean the area and so has Mayor Yioset De La Cruz.
“We are waiting for Miami-Dade County to give us authorization to dump their trash on their designated dumping site.”
Meanwhile, the garbage continues to pile up.
“It makes me angry,” said Nelson Garcia. “For anybody that lives in Hialeah, they should be angry too. It’s not only disgusting, it’s a safety concern too.”
Local 10 News also has the test results from the illegal trailer park in the Redlands.
Just how polluted was the site?
“The Crime is felony pollution,” Sgt. Garcia said. “They’re accused of polluting. The biggest thing is polluting the groundwater.”
A five-acre property on the 145 block of Southwest 194th Avenue in the Redlands with 26 structures being rented out as makeshift homes, some with illegal septic tanks overflowing with human waste, others with pipes directly spewing waste into the ground.
“Whatever’s here is not permitted at all,” said Garcia. “All these RVs, all this piping, all this electrical, none of it is permitted. And now, when we come and we find that this property has E coli, this property has contamination.”
The initial test results are back from Miami-Dade’s Department of Environmental Resource Management, and they indicated the raw groundwater and finished drinking water from the wells on site all tested positive for E. coli and total coliform bacteria.
Raw sewage was also present in samples taken from the north and south east portion of the property.
“People think, oh, no, that’s just a Redlands problem,” said Garcia. “No, all of this will continue to push east. The next thing you know, you’re going to have problems in the east end of the county, where they have E coli contamination because of the problems occurring in the west.”
As of the time of this story’s publication, DERM says the contamination is contained to the property, but cautions more test results are pending.
Both property managers were arrested, and they were identified as 29-year-old Luis Bellido de Luna and 34-year-old Yoislan Mero-Grass.
Both were charged with disregard for environment, felony pollution.
The land owner has been identified as 42-year-old Alexander Ortega Bermudez and he was fined $202,600 and must also pay to clean the mess up.
DERM says he’s cooperating.
So far, no charges have been filed against him.
“If this continues to occur and does not get unchecked, it can become a public health emergency,” said Garcia.
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