You Can Take The Dump Out Of Staten Island . . .

. . . but you can’t make Staten Islanders stop wanting to dump. They just can’t seem to get away from their past:

It’s been seven years since the Fresh Kills landfill closed, but it’s being replaced by miniature dumps that are springing up in neighborhoods across the borough — and the Sanitation Department is being slammed for not doing enough to stop it.

Despite the Island comprising nearly 20 percent of the city’s acreage — and more open spaces and wetlands than any other borough — only 7 percent of the fines issued by the Sanitation Department for illegal dumping in the last five years were given out here, according to an Advance analysis of Sanitation statistics.

. . .

As an Advance reporter and photographer sought out hotspots for dumping across the borough recently, neighbors marveled in disgust over people who don’t think twice before throwing garbage on remote dead-end streets, into wetlands, or along highway ditches.

“I’m astounded,” said Rossville resident Frank Lettiere, who said he often sees people driving to the corner of Woodrow Road and Veterans Road East and kicking trash and household items into the wooded hill that leads to a drainage ditch. “You can’t give people a conscience who don’t have a conscience.”

. . .

Other dumping hot spots the Advance visited include Wild Avenue by East Service Road in Travis, along Chelsea Road in Chelsea and the Graniteville Quarry off Forest Avenue.

Joanne Redhead, who lives across the street from the Elm Park site, said she’s disgusted by the frequent dumping into the lot covered by high weeds and trees.

“They come with their trucks and their cars and they dump their trash there,” Ms. Redhead said, pointing to the lot which harbors tires, several bags of trash and an old boat. “If I knew this was a dumping site, I wouldn’t have bought this house (four years ago). It’s just very nasty people. That’s really messing up the environment.”