KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Police are fed up with whoever is ditching tires at an empty lot near East 14th Street and Kensington Avenue.
Earlier this week, the city cleaned up nearly 2,100 tires that had built up over the last year, which cost the city about $3,700.
Last Friday, East Patrol Division Sgt. Mike Luster was responding to a call in the area when several people got his attention and pointed to a diesel truck that had just dumped another load of tires at the lot.
Luster identified the driver, and illegal dumping investigators with the city plan to file felony illegal dumping charges.
Alan Ashurst, Illegal Dumping Investigator, said the property has become notorious for illegal dumping.
"There are no houses or anything here, so once you get down the street and it gets dark, anybody and everybody come comes here to dump for some reason," Ashurst said.
Last November, Ashurst said the property owner and city got together to clean up the entire lot until there was no garbage left.
Between then and now, the lot has become the site of massive amounts of trash and tires again.
Ashurst said the city plans to work with the property owner to keep eyes on it and make sure it's maintained, but just like any other crime, illegal dumping is tough to prevent.
"If somebody decides they're gonna throw their garbage out, they're gonna throw their garbage out," Ashurst said.
Ashurst said last week's tire dumping had so many tires that it was enough for felony charges.
Ashurst wants to remind people the city is there to help with any questions they have about where they can and cannot dump items.
"Illegal dumping is completely unnecessary," he said. "If anybody has any questions about how to get rid of anything they just need to pick up the phone and call 311."
