LYNN — Case closed.
Three days after Boston Street Car Wash shared a video of a woman in a Toyota SUV dumping 125 pounds of trash on the property late at night, police nabbed the culprit.
Lynn Police Lt. Thomas Reddy, acting on a tip from someone who recognized her from the video and called police, showed up at her home in West Lynn on Tuesday.
“She was apologetic,” said Lynn Police Lt. Michael Kmiec.
Police would not release the woman’s name because she was not arrested.
In a deal brokered by police, Jeff Carroll, the car wash owner, will not bring charges of illegal dumping. In exchange, the culprit agreed to pay the $300 fine he was assessed by the city’s Inspectional Services Department.
“I don’t want to see anyone busted,” he said. “I do want to send a message that dumping trash here will not be tolerated.”
To combat offenders, Carroll said he plans to add two more cameras to discourage dumping.
But Clint Muche, the city’s deputy building commissioner, said the illegal dumping is a red herring.
“There have been written complaints from abutters and elected officials about trash strewn about the car wash since April,” he said. “The little scraps of paper blow off his property and onto theirs. He and his staff don’t seem to understand that.”
Carroll said he’s not sure what else he can do to keep the place clean.
“In the 37 years we’ve been in business, this is the first year they’ve fined me,” he said. “We clean sweep the place 16 times a day, I use a blower in the morning and night and sweep it morning and night and empty the barrels all day long.”
Muche acknowledged complaints have increased since the recent construction of Birchwood Estates, a 28-unit condominium community behind the car wash on North Bend Street.
The City Council has made beautifying the Boston Street corridor a priority. That stretch of gritty roadway from the car wash to Taco Bell has a reputation for its littered parking lots, sidewalks, and gutters.
