WPIX NEWSROOM

10:53 a.m. EDT, April 21, 2010
BROOKLYN (WPIX)—
Add a new problem to the scourge of illegal dumping in Prospect Park: getting the city to clean up the junk.

Ten days after WPIX reported a TV, car tire, and other trash in Prospect Park Lake - and after a Department of Sanitation worker inspected the site - reporter Greg Mocker discovered it was all still floating off shore.

Frustrated by the city's inaction, Mocker removed the TV himself and took it to Central Park, wondering if officials would tolerate a TV floating in one of Manhattan's picturesque ponds (See video).

Eventually, a crew from 1-800-Got-Junk took the TV off Mocker's hands and a city official confessed a mistake had been made in not removing it from the lake.

Illegal dumping has been an ongoing issue in Prospect Park since at least March when the remains of mutilated animals were discovered around the lake.