Neighbors fed up with trashy creek

ATLANTA, Ga. — Neighbors say they're sick and tired of seeing dirty diapers, broken bottles, old tires and other junk being dumped into a southeast Atlanta creek, which no one is taking responsibility for cleaning up.

“I don’t know when they dump it, but I notice it the next morning. It is out there in the back,” said Mary Randall, 98, who lives at a home next to it.

“Tires, bedding, furniture, you name it,” said another neighbor Odessa Rogers.

The trash is apparently collecting downstream in an areas by residential homes with children.

“They’ve thrown a couple of bags of feces that have landed on my property,” said Kayla Webb, who lives at a home on the creek.

Webb says she’s seen the trash over the fence of the apartment, on the other side of the creek, into the water, and into her property.

“Before a  kid can go in her own backyard, we are having to come out and make sure there is not broken beer bottles out here,” Webb said.  “It is very bothersome and the worst part of it (is that) they refuse to take any responsibility.”

The manager of the apartment complex told Channel 2’s Rachel Stockman she doesn’t know who is trashing the creek, but didn’t deny it was happening. Neighbors say the creek area has become a dumping ground.

The creek is in the City of Atlanta and in Dekalb County, which experts say could make the situation more complicated.

“Unless you can see them doing it, there is really not much you can do about it except get it up,” said Peggy Denby of Keep Atlanta Beautiful.

“Dekalb County, Atlanta, nobody got no part of it,” said Gwen Lyons, another neighbor.

Channel 2 Action News contacted both DeKalb County and the City of Atlanta to see if officials were aware the situation, and are waiting for their response. On Friday, Burke Brennan, a spokesperson for DeKalb County told Stockman they sent a crew out and determined the dumping was occurring in the City of Atlanta.

"We would be happy to help in anyway we can," Brennan said.

WSBTV