By Eric Stirgus

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

People dumping tires and  large loads of trash on vacant property could find city officials looking over their shoulder.

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Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com City of Atlanta workers remove tires and other debris from an abandoned property along the 1400 block of Memorial Drive.

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Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com Atlanta is considering using surveillance cameras to nail illegal dumpers.

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Vino Wong, vwong@ajc.com Tony Harris who lives next door to this vacant house said about six months ago the house caught on fire and ever since it has not been well kept. He also said the tires has been in the front yard for about three months.

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Surveillance cameras might be used by Atlanta as it wages war on one of the city's biggest problems, illegal dumping, officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Planning & Community Development Commissioner James Shelby said he and his staff are working with police to determine how many cameras would be used, where they would be located and how much would they cost. He declined to discuss specifics.

"I don't want to tip off the dumpers," Shelby told the AJC.

Shelby and his staff are also talking to the city's Law Department about potential privacy issues. There's no timetable yet.

Atlanta is not the only government to consider surveillance cameras to nail illegal dumpers.

Boston has such a program as part of its illegal dumping task force. Some counties in California, like San Bernardino, also use cameras to catch people illegally dumping trash. Civil libertarians in that state have complained that local governments there have not determined the program's effectiveness.

The Atlanta City Council has scheduled a work session for Wednesday to discuss code enforcement, which has confounded city officials in recent years.

The rise in mortgage foreclosures in metro Atlanta has resulted in more abandoned homes and more places for people to dump unwanted items, particularly in the city's poorer neighborhoods. Those abandoned properties also have become home to drug dealers, vagrants, prostitutes and criminals, community leaders say.

The City Council in April voted to ask a law firm to investigate whether it can sue some mortgage lenders. The firm is still studying the matter, city officials said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the city has fewer people to catch code violators. Budget cuts have reduced the number of code enforcement officers in the city from 33 in 2007 to the current staff of 18 officers and three supervisors, Shelby said.

One high-profile trouble spot has been 1462 Memorial Dr. S.E. in a portion of Atlanta that lies in DeKalb County. Worn tires had stacked up there like a mountain in recent weeks. City officials blame the problem on JP Morgan Chase bank, which they say owns the property, and have filed illegal dumping charges against the company. A hearing is scheduled for March 8.

"Our goal is to get these properties cleared and we want to a part of the enhancement effort that the city is putting forth," said Atlanta Solicitor Raines Carter.

Brent Sobol, who owns about 750 apartment and other rental units in Atlanta, believes City Hall needs to put a greater emphasis on code enforcement. He wants the city to be more aggressive in pursuing federal stimulus funds to tear down abandoned properties.

Sobol also thinks Atlanta should consider an idea proposed last year by then-mayoral candidate Lisa Borders: Use eminent domain to take land from people who poorly maintain their property.

"If we as a city pay more attention to our curb appeal, we would have more economic development because businesses and people would come into the city," Sobol said.

Planning & Community Development officials say they're making greater strides in tearing down abandoned properties, but it takes time. On Monday, the city began the $200,000 demolition of a 91-unit apartment complex in northwest Atlanta that has been vacant since 2007. The demolition was delayed because asbestos had to be removed from the property, department spokeswoman Lanii Thomas said.

The city has set up a telephone number for people to report illegal dumping (404-546-DUMP) and an e-mail address: nodump@atlantaga.gov. It's also working with CrimeStoppers to offer rewards to people who tip the city to illegal dumping.