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Neighboring business: CDOTs trash pile is a double standard

A business owner in Denver was told to clean up their mess, but he's wondering about the Department of Transportation's makeshift dump next door.

DENVER — Shawn Allen can fell the irony more on a windy day.

While the city of Denver keeps patrolling Allen’s and his neighbors’ businesses for trash, a huge heaping pile garbage sits unencumbered, right across the street.

“On random evenings, the orange trucks roll in and they've been dumping quite a bit of trash,” Allen said.

The signs around the lot indicate it belongs to the Colorado Department of Transportation. There is also highway material scattered around the lot.

CDOT explained to Next that the lot is temporary storage for construction material. But they also use it as a temporary dump site for waste swept off the highway nightly. The agency insists it clears out the trash weekly.

“It's never completely gone,” Allen said.

“I didn't move into this neighborhood because there's a dump across the street,” he said.

Allen said his neighbors have been cited for having trash in their yards. He doesn’t understand the double standard.

“He'll be late on a garbage bill here or there and you know - they stay all over us so we'd expect the same thing out of the city as well,” he said.

CDOT said the lot is only being used temporarily while they work on a construction project at I-25 and Santa Fe. Once the project is done, the agency will turn the lot into a green space and return it to the city of Denver, according to a department spokesperson.

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