Brockton neighbors irked by fairground dumping operation

[Ian David]

By Maria Papadopoulos, Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON — Residents in the Thurber Avenue neighborhood say they not only see the mounds of rock and gravel on the abutting Brockton Fairgrounds, they hear it and they feel it, especially when the wind blows.

“All the mountains of dirt and the winds blow across the fairgrounds and into our homes,” said Mary Lanza, 48. “This is horrible.”

Since January, several dump trucks have unloaded earth, gravel, concrete and large boulders at the fairground property near Thurber Avenue, the residents said. Pile drivers have also been used to break the boulders — loudly, they said.

“This thing is out of control,” said Al Gilman.

The city has ordered the dumping and rock-breaking to stop and for the materials to be removed from the property by April 1. The dumping reportedly began in January by a contractor given permission by the owner of the Brockton Fairgrounds.

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Chris Carney, son of George L. Carney Jr., who owns the Brockton Fairgrounds, said Tuesday he gave permission to the contractor to store excess materials from the Walgreens construction site on North Montello Street on the fairgrounds property.

“There's no other places around to put it and we allowed them to do it,” Carney said. “If I knew I would have had the aggravation I had, I wouldn't have done it.”

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