'It's Embarrassing': NYC Parks Department Caught Dumping Trash In Queens Park, Then Says There's Nothing Wrong With It
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – There's a nauseating mess in a popular Queens park.
Trucks have been spotted pouring a whole lot of waste but the more shocking discovery is who's behind it all.
Chunky, murky sludge gushing at full speed directly into one of the most beloved parks in Queens.
"Smells like a sewer," one resident said.
It's creating a soggy, muddy cesspool of bugs, trash, and who knows what else on a strip of land in Forest Park near Union Turnpike and Myrtle Avenue.
People have been navigating around the mysterious waste.
Frank Schorn took video after noticing a truck dumping almost daily for the past week or so – wondering who would do this.
"The stuff that was coming out of the truck was absolutely most disgusting things I've seen in years," the Glendale resident told CBS2.
"Discarded bottles, plastic wrappers… All sorts of things you'd expect to be in a landfill not a park."
It turns out it's the city that caused all this mess. The New York City Parks Department admitted to CBS2 that its own staff dumped the waste there.
CBS2's Reena Roy spotted workers there Friday evening and tried to get more information.
"We're just trying to get some answers because obviously people are very upset," Roy told workers spotted in Forest Park.
Instead a spokesperson defended the dumping – claiming the waste is non-hazardous and collected from what she called "clogged catch basins and spray shower drains" in various parks.
The parks official added it all gets cleaned and hosed down.
"To hear that Parks Department is actually dumping in one of its own parks… disbelief," Councilman Robert Holden said.
Holden says he'll step in to make this stop.
"It's embarrassing. They should be ashamed of themselves… This is not gonna happen again," the councilman declared.
In the meantime, some resident are still shaking their heads over New York City choosing to intentionally pollute their own park.
