MILWAUKEE — It’s hard to miss nearly 20 tires left on a vacant property at the corner of Burleigh and Holton in the Harambee neighborhood.
The tires were left there sometime between late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
“It’s bad for the neighborhood,” said Lina Romero. “It’s bad.”
Other neighbors told TMJ4 off camera that the sight looks terrible and that they were frustrated to see them; however, that wasn’t the first place they were spotted. The tires were first left across the street sometime over the weekend in a driveway and parking area near the dumpster.
The manager of Corner Liquor II and Royal Smoke Shop told TMJ4 they were fined $250 because the tires were left in the dumpster, but they don’t know who or why someone would dump them there.
As for how the tires made their way across the street, it remains a mystery. Security cameras were unable to capture any suspect moving them or dropping them off, leaving the neighborhood stuck with the blight.
“I’m a clean person, and I don’t want to see any of that stuff there,” said Romero.
She believes the vacant property across the street made it easy for the culprit to leave the tires there.
“That’s the problem: this building,” said Romero.
TMJ4 spoke with the property owner, who had just sold to a new owner. He said the reason the building had remained vacant for the past five years was that it was poorly constructed and would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix.
The new property owner told TMJ4 they plan to rebuild and open a new business in the spring. As for the tires, they plan to take a look.
Neighbors like Lina just want to see some action on both the tires and the building.
“It’s frustrating for me,” said Romero. “It’s frustrating for my neighbors. It’s frustrating for the whole neighborhood.”
Illegal dumping can be reported to the city by calling (414) 286-CITY or reporting it here: https://city.milwaukee.gov/DNSPrograms/Dumping. Anyone who provides information leading to a citation can receive up to $1,000.
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