For decades, a massive illegal dump loomed over the Bergen Square neighborhood in Camden, New Jersey. The pile of construction debris, tires, lead, arsenic, and toxic chemicals rose two stories high and stretched two full city blocks. Residents breathed the dust. The property sat under state scrutiny as far back as 2002 — and still the dumping continued.

When the private owners refused to act, Camden had to step in. The city foreclosed on the property, secured funding, and in 2024 hauled away more than 70,000 tons of waste — 2,000 loads of soil, 500 loads of construction debris, 100 tons of tires, and thousands of tons of trash and plastics. That cleanup cost Camden approximately $6 million. The federal government is now adding another $2.5 million through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfield grant to remove tens of thousands of additional tons of soil contaminated with lead, arsenic, and cancer-linked chemicals including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and PFAS compounds.

That's more than $8.5 million in public money — and the bill for the people who actually caused this mess is still unpaid.

S. Yaffa & Sons allegedly initiated the illegal dumping. Weyhill Realty Holdings purchased the property in 2019 and is accused of allowing it to continue. The state filed a lawsuit in 2020. Camden is pursuing its own legal action to recover the $6 million it spent. That case needs to succeed — and it needs to result in full repayment to taxpayers.

Camden residents shouldn't be left holding the bill for someone else's greed. Sign this petition to demand that S. Yaffa & Sons and Weyhill Realty be held financially responsible for every dollar spent cleaning up their mess.