Fort Lauderdale Residents Raise Concerns About Nearby Landfill Site

Earlier this week, residents who live near the old Wingate Landfill voiced their concerns over the closed landfill in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Two residents who live near the landfill site, Sharon Alexander and April Young, say they are concerned about what happened during the landfill’s closure process.

"This site has not been cleaned up properly and we need to have this cleaned," said Alexander, who fears it was not fully decontaminated when it closed in 1978. "I want the city to come out, bring the proper people out here to test the soil to clean up the soil, the homes the families that surround the area to make sure they got proper testing make sure they get adequate care for all of their health crisis as a result of this being here for 72 years in the community."

The residents claim they would bring photos and death certificates of family members and neighbors who have passed away. The plan is to put a face to the health issues they believe stem from the landfill.

"On my street this year alone, we've already lost four residents all due to cancer or cancer-related illnesses (that were) unknown to them until it's pretty much too late," Young said.

Environmental Compliance Manager, Todd Hiteshew, said that the city of Fort Lauderdale completed the cleanup in 2002 based on EPA oversight of the landfill.

"The EPA had oversight, doing monitoring for decades," Hiteshew said. "We've been able to get to the point where we don't have to monitor anymore for groundwater. EPA has signed off on that."

Now, the closed landfill area is being turned into a new movie studio. But Alexander and Young say they will still push for more clean-up, monitoring, and health care.

"Our infrastructure system needs to be updated for quality of water for our people, as well as the quality of air and the quality of our soils," Young said.

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