Volunteers with River Aid San Antonio hauled 43,000 pounds of garbage off a half-acre property near 7715 Elm Cove Drive, clearing years of illegal dumping that had plagued residents in northeast Bexar County. The site, wedged between Walzem and Old Seguin roads, was buried under discarded mattresses, couches, and barbecue pits.
Vic Gomez, operations manager for River Aid San Antonio, described the initial scene as a "lasagna layer of garbage." Over four separate cleanup events, 170 volunteers descended on the area to tackle the debris. The effort was not merely cosmetic; it addressed a long-standing complaint that Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert’s office had struggled to resolve for years.
County officials previously faced a bureaucratic wall: they could not contact the property owner. Libby Day, Calvert’s chief of staff, explained that the site had also served as an informal encampment for unhoused individuals. Once the county re-established contact with the owner, they coordinated with Haven for Hope to offer shelter and resources to those staying on the land before enforcement began.
This volunteer-led approach saved the county significant money. Day noted that a professional cleanup would have cost an estimated $100,000, a sum that would have consumed more than half of the county’s entire abatement budget. By mobilizing local residents and non-profit workers, the community effectively solved a problem that had stalled in administrative limbo.
One final push remains. River Aid San Antonio has scheduled a last cleanup event for Saturday, November 7, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Elm Cove Drive site. Volunteers are expected to finish removing the remaining debris, finally closing the chapter on a dumping ground that had festered for years.