HARRISBURG, Pa. — Illegal dumping has been taking place behind an abandoned building on 24 S. 19 Street in Harrisburg for a long time, building supervisor Adam Williams said this week.
It's been going on since before he started working in the building as a supervisor back in 2017, he added.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s been getting worse," said Williams.
Williams says people usually dump items like couches, TVs and mattresses, he says it happens mostly in the middle of the night.
He says cleaning it up is useless.
“People fill it back up again -- so what was the point," said Williams.
So the junk has been piling up.
“The main issue is it’s piling up against the side of the building, and it’s seeping through the cinder block wall, causing damage in the inside of our building," said Williams.
He says the paint has been starting to come off and it’s starting to deteriorate.
Williams says he and the property owner gave out some pamphlets to the neighbors, instructing them on how to fill out a complaint form to send back to city hall.
“We didn’t get any responses," said Williams.
Two weeks ago, Harrisburg's Public Works Department removed more than 28 tons of trash in some areas of the city.
Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that the city will continue to do everything they can to fight it.
"We're going to keep investing in public works, we're going to continue to grow public works, we're going to continue to make sure it has all the equipment it needs and we're at a point where we can really increase the number of community cleanups like these were doing throughout the city," Papenfuse said.