Lynn councilor’s petition aims to hit illegal dumpers hard

LYNN – A home rule petition brought about by Ward 1 City Councilor Wayne Lozzi will have its day on the Senate floor next week and, if approved, it will be bad news for illegal dumpers.”This could be a valuable tool for the city,” Lozzi said. “Cities and towns are only permitted by state statute to fine illegal dumpers $300. That isn’t really a deterrent.”Under the legislation Lozzi put forward and Sen. Thomas McGee filed, Lynn officials would be allowed to fine illegal dumpers three times the cost of the cleanup, or up to $5,000, he said. Lozzi said money collected over and above the cleanup costs would go into a fund that could be used to sponsor events like a household hazardous waste disposal day.”We haven’t had them because we don’t have the money,” he said.Illegal dumping is not confined to any one area in Lynn. Lozzi said it happens in the parks in Ward 1 like Flax, to the Lynnway to just off Fairmount Avenue and in dozens of other places.”We get midnight dumpers,” he said. “They dump anything from everyday stuff to a pile of roof shingles.”The increased fines, he believes, adds enough teeth that it could cause transgressors to think twice.According to the bill, illegal dumping is when anyone directly or indirectly dumps, places, throws, deposits or discharges any “refuse, rubbish, garbage, household goods, appliances or furniture, construction debris, landscaping debris, scrap, trash or other material of any kind on any way, public or private, appearing on the official map of the city of Lynn, or within 20 yards thereof or on any land owned or controlled by the city.”Fines will be issued by Inspectional Services, Public Works or the Police Department, the same as it stands now, Lozzi said.”It won’t be any different except for the amount of the fines,” he said.Lozzi said he’s received a lot of support for the petition from his colleagues, Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, and the state legislators, Sen. Robert F. Fennell and Reps. Steven M. Walsh, and Lori A. Ehrlich, who all signed in support of the legislation.”I see it becoming a reality Tuesday and it will be a valuable tool for the city,” he said.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].