• Watch a short documentary on the problem at 2000 S Watts St. (WARNING: graphic content)

    The issue isn't dumpsters; it's big businesses thinking they are above the law

  • STOP ILLEGAL DUMPSTERS AND NEGLECTED PROPERTIES

    When a residential neighborhood is allowed to look like a landfill people treat it that way by dumping more garbage in and around the open dumpsters and vacant buildings. Homeless from Broad St use them as a toilet to urinate and defecate, and drug addicts use them to shoot up, leave their needles, and exchange sex for drugs. Children live and play here!

     

    Read about our fight in the Philadelphia Citizen

     

     

  • Sept 4: Rainbow's manager melts down because neighbors asked her to clean up trash around her illegal dumpster

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    Success! Rite Aid has stopped leaving open trash and crates outside our front doors while Snipes and Rainbow have eliminated illegal dumpsters altogether.

    LATEST UPDATES

    November 20: Clean up day! Thanks to E Passyunk Crossing Civic Association and E Passyunk Business Improvement District for facilitating!
     
    September 21: CM Squilla reports L&I and Streets met to develop their "enforcement plan" on September 16.
     
    September 3: Thank you to PA State Senator Nikil Saval for visiting our block. With his office's support, we hope to start the process of citing businesses for illegal dumpsters and blocking the public right of way, which was supposed to happen after CM Squilla's and Trash Commissioner's Warren's visit on July 20.
     
    August 18: New LED streetlights were installed. the timing couldn't be better. The growing homeless encampment at Broad & Snyder is using 2000 S Watts as an annex. This is thanks to businesses illegally providing an infrastructure for them such as dumpsters and gates for cover to use the bathroom and do drugs. Rite Aid leaves cardboard and bins out 24/7, which the homeless pick through for their needs.
     

    August 14: The city hasn't delivered its "enforcement plan" as trash, human waste, needles, and dumpsters still line our street. Uber drivers refuse to drive down the block because illegal gates, built to the curb, are left often by the homeless who use them as bathrooms.

     

    August 2: Verizon tied up loose wires that were hanging from utility poles, greatly improving the appearance of our neighborhood.

     

    July 20: Thank you to Councilmember Squilla, The Streets Departments, L&I, and the East Passyunk Business Improvement District for touring 2000 S Watts with neighbors. The work of the above group, facilitated by the East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association, has already led to Snipes permanently removing their dumpsters!

     
    • Keith Warren said we could have new LED street lights in two weeks to help with safety!

    • L&I promised an "enforcement plan" to eliminate illegal dumpsters and enclosures blocking the public right of way.

  • Gallery

    You have to see it to believe that this is E. Passyunk

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    Trash Takes Precedent Over Wheelchairs

    Even if it's enclosed, dumpsters cannot block a public right of way

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    Behind Popeye's

    This dumpster blocks a right of way, is visible to residents, and constantly overflows. The Philly 311 app says this is “currently being investigated.”

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    Behind the abandoned McDonald's, now owned by USA Vein Clinics

    Illegal dumping, drug use, and human urination and defecation are common occurrences behind this neglected building

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    Trash and human waste behind the USA Vein Clinics-owned building

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    Residents had to remove this trash behind the vacant McDonalds

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    Constant trash and trouble behind this neglected building

  • Gallery

    (WARNING: graphic content)

    You have to see it to believe that this is E. Passyunk

    Rite Aid Trash Invites Trash

    Illegal enclosures and 24/7 trash on our sidewalk is an inviting setting for drug use

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    Snipes and Rainbow Dumpsters

    Snipes actually removed those dumpsters, ironically, because they were illegal. The Rainbow Dumpster persists

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    The Back of Popeyes, H&R Block, and Boost Mobile

    This trash doesn't look like it's in an opaque enclosure

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    I wonder if these needles behind H&R Block are tax deductible?

    This trash also doesn't look like it's in an opaque enclosure

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    Rainbow's Dumpster Welcomes You to 2000 S Watts

    What better way to welcome addicts and vagrants onto our block

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    Rite Aid's Filth Next to Children's Chalk

    Sad that the kids on our block have to play amongst this garbage

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    Makeshift Port-a-Potty

    courtesy of Snipes and Rainbow

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    We're Better Than This, Philly!

    This is no way any Philadelphian should "enjoy" their block; a family plays with Snipes and Rite Aid's dumpster as a backdrop

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    You Won't Believe What is About to Happen Next...

    Notice, children are currently present

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    Sex, Trash, and Videotape

    Rite Aid's dumpster and illegal enclosure (over 6 feet high, blocking a sidewalk) makes a great broad daylight love shack

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    And Then They Shoot Heroin

    Rite Aid must have expanded its pharmaceutical selection

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    All Philly P.D. Can Do is Tell Them to Move Along

    I talked to the police officers, who actually said the dumpsters are what attract this element from Broad and Snyder down our block! These two returned 15 minutes later

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    Dumpsters Take Precedent Over Wheelchairs

    According to the law, in a residential area, dumpsters aren't allowed to block sidewalks

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    Waiting Next to Overflowing Dumpster for a Car to Pass

    The sidewalks do not belong to the residents of 2000 S Watts

  • There was Relief... for a Moment

    Snipes removed two dumpsters!

    And it made an amazing difference on the McKean end of the block!
    No trash, human waste, drugs, or sex (a phrase I never thought I would have to write)
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  • But it was "inconvenient" for Snipes to follow the law

    2 weeks later, a Snipes dumpster returned directly behind their store next to a brand new Rite Aid dumpster that had arrived a few days prior. Emails to John Hernandez were ignored. I asked the Snipes store manager about the new dumpster who literally admitted she knows it is illegal, but that it's "too inconvenient" not to have a dumpster.

     

    Because the law and neighborly decency might be inconvenient is not reason enough to ignore either

    But you won't believe this!

    They had no plans for an enclosure because they couldn't be permitted for one because the back of their store wasn't zoned for such a structure! So, they're willfully breaking the law by getting a dumpster but can't hide it in an enclosure because it would be illegal to build one!

     

    I emailed Snipes COO, Brigitte Cooperman, who said she is working with the city and in the interim will put locks on the dumpster. How is the law going to suddenly change and allow Snipes to build an enclosure? How will just adding locks make their illegal dumpster compliant in the short term? It's incomprehensible that a business can knowingly break the law, harm its neighbors, and its COO responds with an empty plea for patience while they try to figure it out.... especially when they had it figured out 2 weeks prior and removed the dumpsters, instantly making the block brighter and safer!

     

     

    UPDATE: Snipes responded to a cease and desist letter by returning the second dumpster. After city intervention, the dumpsters were removed!

     

     

     

  • Follow Us on Twitter!

    Check out our latest updates @Clean2KSWatts

  • What to Do?

     

     

    • Contact city councilman Mark Squilla 
    • Contact Philly's sanitation chief, Keith Warren
    • Contact USA Vein Clinics (owner of the vacant McDonalds) and tell them they need to provide better lighting, fencing, and attention to their neglected property: nchaudhri@usaveinclinics.com, lbaccega@usaveinclinics.com, drflora@usaveinclinics.com
    • Ask the media to shine a light on these businesses 
    • Call 911 to report any suspicious or illegal behavior you see at a dumpster, illegal enclosure blocking a public right of way, or vacant property.
    • Even if you don't live on 2000 S. Watts, we implore our E. Passyunk Neighbors to help us fight this fight. S Watts is not only a half block from Broad & Snyder but also from the shops and dining on E Passyunk Avenue; we can’t snap a finger and solve the systemic issues that plague Broad & Snyder but we can do little things that collectively mitigate problems and keep trash, drug use, and crime from taking over S Watts, encroaching on the vibrant businesses on E Passyunk.