Photo: Vimeo (Frank Schorn)
Sept. 4, 2019 By Allie Griffin
The NYC Parks Department dumped smelly sludge into an area of Forest Park last week and only after being caught in the act the agency said it would re-evaluate the practice.
The practice came to light when Glendale resident Frank Schorn captured a truck with Parks employees dumping muck and trash into a section of the park near Myrtle Avenue.
Schorn told CBS2 he witnessed the truck dumping the mess daily for the past week or so and decided to capture it on video.
While a Parks Department spokesperson said the debris was not hazardous waste, Schorn said it “smells like a sewer” in a video he shot last Thursday.
The parkland was left a deep muddy mess, with cans, wrappers and plastic bottles spewed about.
The dumped waste was soil and sediment from clogged catch basins and spray shower drains, according to the Parks department. Parks employees used fresh water from holding tanks to flush the sediment they collected into the area.
Thanks to the media attention and Schorn’s videos, the park has since been cleaned from debris and sediment. Parks employees took the waste to a proper landfill and the department is looking at alternatives for this type of trash and sediment in the future.
“The site was cleaned and cleared of debris and sediment by Saturday,” a Parks Department spokesperson said. “We are re-evaluating this practice and exploring alternative methods to dispose of the waste.”
Dumping in Forest Park 8-29-2019 #1 from Frank Schorn on Vimeo.
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4 Comments
I Have lived near this park for over 20 years and the carelessness by the parks department employees is deplorable and business as usual
That is disgusting!! What a set of ball’s on these guy’s. Kid’s play in these parks and people just enjoy walking thru…….who knows what’s in this waste, needles, drug waste, no idea. These careless non caring individuals should be made to clean up the mess and pick up your check…..Fired !!
it’s absolutely disgusting – Parks department dumping trash in a park! Somebody should be held responsible. Forest Park is one of the best spots in Queens and it is decently maintained although there are spots that never get cleaned. And lately there are people riding motor bikes on the road that is definitely not designed for it!
Well Done. Thank you for capturing this and reporting it otherwise it would have went ignored. 311 phone calls would get submitted and laughed it and nothing would happen. We need more individuals like you and this site reporting these issues so they get resolved and not buried under a pile of other complaints which get ignored as well.