HIALEAH, Fla. \u2014 Hialeah native Nelson Garcia is sick and tired of seeing his community trashed. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become the new norm,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople just come and they dump and they go. It\u2019s disgusting, it\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was so upset that he took to Instagram to make some noise, and his video caught Local 10\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my community,\u201d he said. \u201cI want everybody to see what\u2019s happening in my backyard, and we have to let those people know that are doing this, that this is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The area around Northwest 107th Avenue and West 108th Street, right on the border of Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens, is an industrial part of the city with mostly warehouses and dense trees, which make it dark and secluded at night, providing an ideal dumping ground. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knows about this area,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cThey just come, they dump, at who knows, 2, 3, 4 in the morning, when there\u2019s nobody here, and it\u2019s a free-for-all.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just one area, but all along 107th Avenue from Northwest 154th Street to West 114th Terrace. <\/p>\n
Garcia took Local 10 News\u2019 Louis Aguirre on a trash finding safari so we could see firsthand all the piles of junk that have accumulated on the side of the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody dumps and they go about their business, and nobody ever finds out,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cThere\u2019s no accountability and there\u2019s no real consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony is right smack in the middle of all this mess is a sign that clearly reads: \u201cWarning: No Dumping, violators will be prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia said the city is not enforcing the warning, but Hialeah city officials said they\u2019re aware of the problem and are trying to address it by \u201cincreasing patrol in the area\u201d and \u201cidentifying peak times for dumping.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Hialeah police, they released a statement to Local 10 News that read, in part: <\/p>\n
\u201cThese areas, often dark and with minimal traffic, especially at night, are unfortunately being exploited. We are working closely with the Miami-Dade Sheriff Office Environmental Crimes Unit, which have made several arrests related to this problem.\u201d <\/p>\n
Both statements can be read in full at the bottom of this story.<\/p>\n
Local 10 also showed video of the Hialeah dumping areas to Sgt. Christopher Garcia from Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office Environmental Crimes Unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery, very familiar with this area,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have arrested easily, I would say in the zone of over 100 people over the last five years, easily.\u201d<\/p>\n
So if arrests are being made, why does the problem persist?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t catch them all,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cWe\u2019re out there, but I tell folks we can\u2019t be there 24\/7. (The city of Hialeah has) asked us, \u2018What can we do?\u2019 And we said, listen, the biggest thing is, you got to get it cleaned. You got to get all this area cleaned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia said it\u2019s not enough to arrest the litter bugs caught in the act. If the trash isn\u2019t picked up, it continues to send the wrong message.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to play catch-up, you have to get this clean,\u201d he said. \u201cThis trash gets trash. If you leave it there, people are going to think it\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the bulk of the trash is on public property, the cleanup falls on the city of Hialeah, and it will cost thousands. <\/p>\n
For Garcia, he just hopes all this attention will move the needle to finally get the mess cleaned up.<\/p>\n
\u201cUs from Hialeah, we know better,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re better than this. Hialeah is a beautiful city. We have to preserve it. We have to keep it clean, and we have to enforce rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Environmental complaints can be reported to the Division of Environmental Resources Management complaint desk at 305-372-6955 24 hours a day, 7 days a week or by emailing environmentalcomplaints@miamidade.gov<\/a>. You may also report environment complaints online<\/a>.<\/p>\n City of Hialeah statement: <\/p>\n \u201cHialeah Mayor Jacqueline Garc\u00eda-Roves is aware of what is happening in this area and has intensified her efforts to combat the illegal dumping of garbage in public spaces.<\/p>\n \u201cCleanup operations have been carried out repeatedly, and police patrols have been increased in the most affected areas in order to prevent this practice from continuing.<\/p>\n \u201cIn coordination with Miami-Dade County, the City is maintaining a joint action plan to address this issue more effectively. The Mayor highlighted the work of the Hialeah Police Department in preventing these behaviors and reaffirmed her commitment to keeping the city cleaner and safer for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Hialeah Police Department statement: <\/p>\n \u201cThe City of Hialeah is aware and addressing the issue of illegal dumping, particularly in secluded areas near West 44th Ave\/NW 107 Ave. <\/p>\n \u201cThese areas, often dark and with minimal traffic, especially at night, are unfortunately being exploited. We are working closely with the Miami-Dade Sheriff Office Environmental Crimes Unit, which have made several arrests related to this problem. <\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that during the late night hours, while officers are responding to calls for service, people are taking advantage of this time to dump illegally. To combat this, we\u2019ve increased patrol in these areas and are identifying peak times for dumping incidents to further intensify our efforts. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to keeping our city clean and safe, and we will continue to take action against those who violate our environmental laws.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HIALEAH, Fla. \u2014 Hialeah native Nelson Garcia is sick and tired of seeing his community trashed. \u201cIt\u2019s become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":{"0":"post-2056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-hialeah","9":"tag-hialeah-headlines","10":"tag-hialeah-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}