Virginia Weeks moved to Tucson less than a year ago, buying this house to be closer to family. In the last few months, she has noticed people dumping things in her alley directly behind her house.
“A couple months ago someone had left five gallons of used motor oil in front of my alley way property,” she said.
She was told by code enforcement that she had 24 hours to clear out the motor oil or pay a fine of $5,000. So she spent over $100 to get it cleared out. On Christmas Day, she found something similar a pile of trash dumped directly behind her house. Weeks saw on her security camera that is placed on her back fence that two men dropped the trash off.
“There were two guys that were carrying furniture, a mattress and stuff over near the trash can,” she said.
According to the City of Tucson, from the middle of the alley to the home owner’s back fence is that home owner’s responsibility. Even if the city trash can is placed in that area. But on the city’s website, it states that it’s illegal to dump trash on private and public property.
“Waste management said they would get someone out here to clear it out but in the meantime if code enforcement comes out, they’ll only give me 24 hours to clean it up,” she said.