EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — East Cleveland is trying to fight back against growing illegal dumping, arson fires and vacant burned-out buildings in a three-block area of the city, and has now called on Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley asking for help.
East Cleveland Council President Twon Billings took O'Malley and city leaders on a tour of the prolific vandalism and growing trash piles in sections of Elderwood, Chapman and Strathmore Avenues. Billings told News 5 the growing health and safety risk to longtime homeowners in the neighborhood has reached a peak, and said the city must do more to bring in resources to address the expanding hazard.
“It’s horrible, it’s like a third world country back here, our children are walking back here on their way to school and I think that this is an embarrassment," Billings said. “The situation for citizens and children, it’s horrible, this can be a situation where this can burn a lot of people out of their properties and kill people.”
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley told News 5 he'll be speaking with Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne in the coming days to see if there is any way the county can provide some demolition or enforcement assistance.
“You can't have these vacant dilapidated burned-out buildings and all this garbage piling up, it’s a public safety hazard and something needs to be done for the residents of East Cleveland," O'Malley said. “Hundreds and hundreds of times people have come into this community and dumped illegally, and whoever is doing it needs to be arrested and they need to be held accountable.”
Longtime East Cleveland homeowners like Paul Hill Jr. and Angela Jones told News 5 they are fed up with the growing safety risk in their neighborhood, and they're demanding the city do more to solve the issue.
“East Cleveland is looked upon as a garbage can," Hill said. “This is a health hazard, this makes no sense whatsoever, this violation is chronic, it’s been going on for years and something need to be done about it."
Jones told News 5 that surveillance cameras and concrete barriers have not been effective in slowing down the illegal dumping in her neighborhood.
“That’s sad, that’s horrible, but people keep dumping stuff," Jones said. "Who knows what we’re inhaling.”
Ward 3 East Cleveland Councilman Lateek Shabazz said the city will take down three vacant apartment buildings on Feb. 20, and the fire department is installing free smoke detectors in the homes of concerned residents in that neighborhood, but said safety lighting is desperately needed on the streets being hit by arson and illegal dumping.
“It’s dark over here at night so you can’t see the license plates of the people who are dumping," Shabazz said. “This community is dark, that’s why you see all kinds of crime and bodies being dumped into the community."
East Cleveland Civil Rights Commission Vice President Dawn Jones said it's difficult for residents to move away from the growing safety risk.
“You don’t really want to leave East Cleveland if you’ve paid your mortgage," Jones said. "You don’t want to start over somewhere else with a higher mortgage because you’re basically on a fixed budget."
News 5 reached out to East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King by phone and by email for this story, hoping to get word on what the city will be doing about this issue in the coming months, but we're still waiting for a response.
Meanwhile, Billings is urging city leaders to take action as soon as possible.
“Every building back here has been set on fire," Billings said. “I think we need to take stronger approaches other than just video cameras because as you can see we have a new camera on the pole and it’s been pretty much ripped down."
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
