By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net
It's an open demolition site that features the rusting skeleton of a former giant furniture store. The walls are collapsing; so is the roof.
Neighbors say the site is an attractive public nuisance for local kids, who like to party there and paint graffiti. It sits directly across the street from the ballfields behind George Washington High School on Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.
For months, L&I has allowed the 11.7-acre site to operate as an illegal landfill. Dump trucks have been seen going in and out of the property on a daily basis, say neighbors and a former L&I employee who visited the site. The dump trucks left behind in the rear of the property a pile of concrete rubble, brick and old tires. Dumpsters formerly kept on the site also attracted plenty of old refrigerators, mattresses and lots of trash.
"It's an eyesore," said a woman who lives across the street but did not want to be identified. At 7:20 a.m. on Monday Aug. 19th, neighbors saw a worker at the site frantically waving down police, who had just pulled up in cop cars with lights flashing.
"Bet you they found a body," the woman recalled saying to a neighbor. "It was just a matter of time."
for Bigtrial.net
It's an open demolition site that features the rusting skeleton of a former giant furniture store. The walls are collapsing; so is the roof.
Neighbors say the site is an attractive public nuisance for local kids, who like to party there and paint graffiti. It sits directly across the street from the ballfields behind George Washington High School on Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.
For months, L&I has allowed the 11.7-acre site to operate as an illegal landfill. Dump trucks have been seen going in and out of the property on a daily basis, say neighbors and a former L&I employee who visited the site. The dump trucks left behind in the rear of the property a pile of concrete rubble, brick and old tires. Dumpsters formerly kept on the site also attracted plenty of old refrigerators, mattresses and lots of trash.
"It's an eyesore," said a woman who lives across the street but did not want to be identified. At 7:20 a.m. on Monday Aug. 19th, neighbors saw a worker at the site frantically waving down police, who had just pulled up in cop cars with lights flashing.
"Bet you they found a body," the woman recalled saying to a neighbor. "It was just a matter of time."