After several months of persistent complaints by residents, the City of Philadelphia completed a challenging cleanup of illegally dumped trash behind Valley Greene Apartments in East Falls on Monday. The operation required excavators to navigate a steep hillside where trash had been strewn down the slope, where it was clearly visible to hikers on Fairmount Park trails.

City workers from Sanitation, the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) and Parks and Recreation arrived in the morning and by early afternoon had removed all remaining debris, just one day before a local contractor had planned to do the job himself.

Susan Schaefer, a Valley Greene resident who helped coordinate community efforts, thanked the Local for its coverage of the issue. 

The community of Valley Greene Cooperative Apartments held our quarterly shareholders' meeting tonight, which opened with the board president expressing this gratitude to Tommy Tucker and the Chestnut Hill Local,” she said. “Amidst boisterous applause, one of our members stood and said, “Now we can see the earth, again.’ The debris that buried the natural woodlands behind our building was an affront every day. Now, as the backhoes and dump trucks pulled away, one of our backyard deer reappeared. Seems the balance between our natural and built environment is back.”

The pile began growing last summer, when illegal dumpers discovered the hidden patch of ground behind Valley Greene, which sits on Alden Park property.

What happened next is an all-too-familiar story in this city, where illegal dumping is a big enough problem that it recently drew a March 3 crowd of outraged protestors to City Hall. After finding this spot, the contractors kept coming back, using it again and again until what started as a single truckload of debris gradually turned into a serious ‘trash mountain.”

CLIP's initial cleanup, which started on Jan. 10 and cost $3,900, hauled away a large portion of the trash, according to Office of Clean and Green Initiatives spokesperson, Keisha McCarty-Skelton. Once the total cost of Monday's operation is calculated, CLIP plans to submit a comprehensive bill for both cleanups to property owner Alden Park.

Tracing the trash

The story of who was responsible for the illegal dumping began to unfold when Kristopher Geraci, an Alden Park resident who frequently walks near the park, noticed a package in the trash pile. Acting as a neighborhood detective, Geraci examined the address label and then researched the property in city records.

His investigation revealed that the package came from 5837 Anderson St., a former Philadelphia Housing Authority property that had been purchased and was being redeveloped by local contractor Jordan Parisse-Ferrarini. 

When contacted by the Local, Parisse-Ferrarini was furious, explaining that he had paid $5,500 to Say No More Demolition to clean out the property and properly dispose of the waste.

Donte Sanders, owner of Say No More Demolition, told the Local that he had paid a subcontractor his typical fee of about $500 to haul the truckload of trash – and had no idea how or why it wound up in the pile behind Valley Greene. 

But he, too, was mortified – and offered to come and clean it up. 

"I don't know what happened, but what I am going to try to do is try to fix the situation without debating about the situation," Sanders told the Local. 

Sanders subsequently reached out to coordinate a cleanup with the city, offering his help for free. When no one from the city responded, he planned to clean up the property himself on Tuesday morning. Though the city ultimately beat him to the cleanup, Sanders didn't abandon his commitment to help.

Instead, he pivoted to prevention, coordinating with Schaefer to install barriers along their property between their driveway and Alden Park's property on Tuesday morning. Sanders and Schaefer hope these barriers will deter future dumpers from accessing the hidden area that had become a dumping hotspot.

The bigger picture

Mayor Cherelle Parker has made "cleaning and greening" the city a signature issue of her administration – and that includes tackling the persistent problem of illegal dumping. 

According to McCarty-Skelton, the sanitation department spends approximately $1.8 million annually to combat illegal dumping citywide.

"Our investment in surveillance cameras, which are strategically placed in known hot spots, have resulted in increased arrests and decreased dumping across the city," she said. "Currently, over 300 cameras have been installed for illegal dumping around the city. The City will expand the number of cameras by 100 this year to other locations to identify and hold illegal dumpers accountable. The Law Department prosecuted over 50 illegal dumping cases resulting in more than $3 million in judgments and received over $200,000 in settlements from illegal dumpers in 2024."

In this case, she said "The city will investigate if this site meets the criteria for installation of a camera," though she noted that installing gates or fences falls on the property owner.