Piles of old tires line Linden St. | News

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB)- Neighbors along Linden Street, just off of Plank Road are really
growing tired of a problem.

"It's like a city dump back there," said Barbara Perkins, a
neighbor in the area. "But, here lately it's been tires."

Barbara Perkins says she first noticed the mounds of tires several
months ago and since then dozens and dozens of tires have been added to the
pile.

The tires are havens for mosquitoes, rats, and snakes - not to
mention a fire hazard.

"We're always surprised to see it, but we've seen it before,"
said Bob Hern, an environmental engineer for the East Baton Rouge Department of
Public Works.  "Hopefully people will understand that this is not a proper way to
dispose of things."

DPW officials say this is a large example of a problem that is
actually growing all around the parish.

People dispose of old tires along the road in many neighborhoods-
usually in small amounts. The offenders on Linden Street dumped well over 50
tires.

Normally when a person buys tires, the tire shop charges a small
disposal fee in order to get rid of the old tires.

Officials can't tell for sure, but they say the problem on Linden
Street looks to have been caused by a tire business or tire hauler.

Neighbors say it's more than an eyesore.

"Kids will play and knock them into the street and cars can't
even come through the street," said Perkins.

The cleanup will now be charged to taxpayers.

"This is taxpayer money being spent here," Hern said. "It
takes away from our normal daily routine, with the things we're supposed to be
doing elsewhere that we're not going to be doing because we're spending time
cleaning this up."

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