Tucson Region

Taxpayer Watch: When desert area becomes illegal-dumping ground

Situation: Deborah Lowery, a teacher at Los Amigos Elementary School, 2200 E. Drexel Road, says the desert surrounding the school provides "a natural learning environment where we used to enjoy taking our young students to learn about the desert." But over the last year the area southeast of Drexel and South Tucson Boulevard has become a dumping ground for old mattresses, televisions, stereos, tires, construction debris and garbage, destroying the educational value. Status: It is the responsibility of the property owner to clean up the property, said Lucy Valdez, environmental-inspections supervisor for the city. She said an inspection of the property has been ordered and if a wildcat dump is confirmed a cleanup will be required. The initial response will be to ask the owner to clean up the property in a timely manner. If the city has trouble identifying the owner or the owner is uncooperative, she said, a city crew may remove the items that were illegally dumped on the property. Pima County assessor's records indicate the property is owned by a trust whose beneficiaries are an investment group from Diamond Ventures and Diamond Equity Pool. A spokeswoman for Diamond Ventures said the company, which has extensive holdings throughout the county, was unaware of the problem. She said the company sent a crew to begin cleaning up the property the same afternoon it was called about it by the Arizona Daily Star. Who's responsible: Lucy Valdez, environmental-inspections supervisor for the city's Environmental Services Department. For questions or to make complaints about wildcat dumps, weeds, trashy yards and similar problems, call 791-3171.