<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1ScVnL_1H3iUijP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1ScVnL_1H3iUijP00" width="1024" height="788" ><figcaption>Peter Davis, David, and Jesse after collecting some of recently dumped tires. Credit: Contributed photo</figcaption></figure>When Peter Davis and his crew were almost done cleaning up more than 500 tires that had been illegally dumped off of Springside Avenue, he arrived once again to find 100 more.Davis, a part-time city parks employee, spends his days cleaning up various illegal dumping spots. He’s been with the Parks Department for 40 years, having served as the city’s riverkeeper before retiring and then returning to part-time work.For more than a month, he and a crew of volunteers and parks employees spent an hour a few days per week collecting the approximately 550 tires scattered across the woods off of Springside Avenue in West Rock Park, not too far from Common Ground High School, between the road and Wintergreen Brook.That initial dump was in late August. No one knew who the dumper was. It appears they came back.Davis said that the parks team was ready to finish up the last 20 or so tires left from the last dump around three weeks ago when he saw that 100 more tires littered the woods.“It was a little depressing to go back,” he admitted. He and his crew — which includes parks employees and Benhaven residents David and Jesse, retired firefighter Marty Lendroth, and others — then got to work picking up those tires, too. “It’s important that we do it.”They heave tires from the brook or the woods up to the street, where they pile them up for the Parks Department to come by and pick up with their trucks. The tires are then taken to the transfer station on Middletown Avenue to be disposed of properly. Davis estimated that there are about 16 tires left in the new dump. He’s hoping to get them on Monday. They had disposed of an initial 67, then another 27 on Wednesday.Therefore, more than 650 tires have been dumped in just those woods since August. Those tires, Parks Director Max Webster said, are a hazard for the environment. They don’t break down or go away, meaning that they leak different kinds of chemicals, the metals threaded through them get into the waterways and can impact aquatic life, and they fill up with water and trap mosquitos. “You can’t ever get water out of the tires once it gets in, unless you cut that tire apart,” he said. If they’re handled without gloves, the rubber hairs can be like splinters.“They’re just nasty,” Webster said. It’s a difficult area to catch illegal dumpers. It’s so remote that it’s hard to have a camera installed, as it requires proper wiring. “That’s a dark spot for us,” said police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart, who confirmed the dumping case is still under investigation. Police have asked that anyone with tips contact District Manager Lt. Pedro Colon at pcolon@newhavenct.gov.The second dumping makes it clear that this is a repeat offender, rather than a one-off long ago, said Webster, who is continuing to work with the police department to find different enforcement methods. He said that his department is working on putting trail cameras up in that area. That’s not a perfect solution, either, as they can be limited if it’s really dark. “Monitoring is the best thing we can do right now, keep it from growing into a big problem,” Webster said. “The thing that’s the worst about it, you’re right across the street from a school. This is where kids go to learn about local ecology and to try to build a local connection with the place where they live. They’re showing no attention, no regard, no interest in helping to support the kinds of experiences these kids can have. It’s a slap in the face to the students at Common Ground as well as the others that go through and use that area,” Webster said.“You’re saving a couple bucks, I guess, by dumping those tires, but the cost you’re putting into the environment and people’s lives, it’s not fair at all,” he continued. “Whether it’s this issue here on Springside or the other repeated dumping spots we have across the city, whether it’s auto shops or contractors or home renovators … keep in mind how you’re devaluing these spaces where people live, where people are trying to build lives with meaning.”<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3t9U9M_1H3iUijP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3t9U9M_1H3iUijP00" width="1538" height="1062" ><figcaption>Tire-cleanup volunteers Ron Walters, Frank Dileo, and Mike. Credit: Contributed photo</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1ujyuK_1H3iUijP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1ujyuK_1H3iUijP00" width="2048" height="1365" ><figcaption>Parks Director Max Webster: “It’s a slap in the face to the students at Common Ground as well as the others that go through and use that area.” Credit: Dereen Shirnekhi file photo</figcaption></figure></div></body>

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When Peter Davis and his crew were almost done cleaning up more than 500 tires that had been illegally dumped off of Springside Avenue, he arrived once again to find 100 more. Davis, a part-time city parks employee, spends his days cleaning up various illegal dumping spots. He’s been with the Parks Department for 40 years, having served as the city’s riverkeeper before retiring and then returning to part-time work.

100 More Tires Dumped In West Rock

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When Peter Davis and his crew were almost done cleaning up more than 500 tires that had been illegally dumped off of Springside Avenue, he arrived once aga

100 More Tires Dumped In West Rock

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