Austin will soon have eyes all over the city watching for illegal dumping. Code compliance officers now have eight new surveillance cameras and you may never know they are there.
Code officers showed KVUE dozens of photos of people pulling into a dead end road in East Austin dumping unwanted items. They only thought it was the perfect spot, but the entire time a hidden camera was snapping away.
Most of the violators end up being cited with a misdemeanor and fined around $400. However, two are now involved in a criminal investigation for dumping a motorcycle reported stolen from Beaumont.
“We want the message to get out that it’s cheaper and more prudent to go to the landfill,” said Austin Code Compliance Officer Ron Potts.
Potts is getting ready to drive the message home. He spent Wednesday morning unpacking eight new surveillance cameras. All were purchased with a grant from the TCEQ and the Capital Area Council of Governments.
The cameras are solar powered and can even snap clear pictures in the dark.
“Once someone drives in their view, they’ll start recording and taking pictures. We download those pictures and we’ll pursue the person off either their license plate or their personal identity,” Potts said.
Potts says illegal dumping is such a big problem, that the city budgets $450,000 a year to clean it up.
Read full story at KVUE News
Unfortunately……..this is the preferred method in Austin. This is due to the fact that the city of Austin does not allow any customers (that pay over $30/month for waste collection) to get rid of excess trash….ANYWHERE. You call local area landfills and what you quickly find out is that there is at least a $60 minimum charge. Most other cities (that charge much less per month for more services) provide area dumping stations where customers can dump their excess waste for free……instead of dumping it illegally. Unfortunately this means that many East Austin areas (parks, roadsides, etc…) become illegal dumping sites. A situation that would be easily avoidable if the city would provide a place for paying customers to dump their garbage legally. Way to go City of Austin…….