By Travis McGee Illegal dumping is a city/county problem that has plagued Black and Brown communities for decades now. We all know illegal dumping is wrong as well as it being a crime however it’s not treated as such in Black and Brown communities. Allowing the illegal dumping to remain in our ditches, public streets, drainage, infrastructure, and etc. for months at a time is also a crime. Th e victims of the illegal dumping are communities all across the city of Houston and Harris County, but believe it or not the community is oft en blamed for the crime vs. the person(s) actually committing the crime. Th e residents are asked to call 3-1-1 or various other numbers only to witness the dumpsites to remain and grow for months at a time. There’s no such thing as a bad community, you simply have good and bad people coming in and out of them. Th e good people welcome good proactive illegal dumping enforcement initiatives versus excuses and more illegal dumping, however the only people the lack of enforcement benefits are the illegal dumpers. We oft en hear the city and the county say we need to work together but in reality, they don’t work together on a more productive /proactive basis to maximize services and resources that benefits the taxpayers. For decades now illegal dumping, environmental hazards, and quality of life issues have been very well documented in Black and Brown communities across our city and county, with very little improvements or notable solutions. I doubt if someone dumped next to city hall or commissioners court they wouldn’t get caught on tape, arrested, prosecuted, and etc. in a matter of minutes. I also doubt if they would call 3-1-1 versus a department to get it removed in a matter of minutes. We all know it wouldn’t remain there for months at a time and we also know it would be properly and thoroughly investigated. Just last year Black and Brown communities across the City of Houston fi led a complaint with the Department of Justice claiming discriminatory practices of […]
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