crack

The Arco AMPM is the center for drug trade in my neighborhood. It is difficult to go near the place without someone offering to sell you drugs and people are often doing drugs all around the store parking lot. It is amazing to me that a national chain of a well established business is allowing all of this to go on right under their nose. Although I don't know a lot about drugs, I understand from a neighbor that has had problems with AMPM for a long time that crack is sold in little 'dime bags' that are often decorated with popular logos (playboy, nike, mercedes etc) these empty bags can be seen scattered all over the parking lot of the Arco AMPM. Too bad that they don't even bother to try to clean the place up. Here is a photo of some of them that I picked up while walking my dog this morning.

lockdown

We had another lockdown in our neighborhood the other day as some violent crime that originated at the Arco/AM-PM store spread out into the neighborhood. It is frustrating that a business that is so obviously the center of the crime problem in the neighborhood does so little to help with the problem.

I wrote a note to Ron Scherman of their "*elite* Customer Solutions" whom of course did not even bother to respond to my email, this seems to be their standard way of not dealing with all of the problems from their store.

stump watch

Remember that stump that they dug up and put on the side of their property? Were you worried that something might happen to it? That maybe somebody might steal it and want the old dead stump for their own yard? Well don't worry, it's still there! You can visit the old dead stump any time you like! I don't think they will ever clean it up!

arco the bad neighbor

I realize as I post these that it must seem like I am making this all up, there is no way that a company can keep doing business while having such complete disregard for the community, right? Another cell phone photo of the trash currently on the side of the building, maybe this is their attempt at landscaping?

Arco's downward spiral

I noticed yesterday that the trash had at long last been picked up. I don't think that the city took care of it because Arco / AMPM had dumped it on someone elses private property making it a police matter. It took them so long to clean it up that I started filling my own trash can out of the pile, (here is a photo) but at the rate I was going it would have taken me months to get it all cleaned up. Thank you to whomever finally cleaned it up and thank you to all of the city and local departments that I contacted, including the police, the city engineers, the DPD, the Rainier Valley Chamber of Commerce and others. I'm sure we have not heard the end of it but it is a small start.

AMPM, too much bad stuff

No suprise here, the trash is still on the neighbors property and sadly someone else has started to add to it. Which is of course the main problem when the AMPM does not take care of it's property, it spreads to the rest of the neighborhood. I've reported them to the city engineers office yesterday and I'm going to make some more calls today.

AMPM, the armpit of my neighborhood

Remember yesterday when I was gushing on about how AMPM was actually being a good neighbor and cleaning up their property? Well guess what? When I went by the property this morning while walking my dog I realized that they took all of the trash that had been dumped on their property and simply dumped it in the back yard of a nearby abandon house! Not only is AMPM not helping with the problem, they ARE the problem! Unfortunately they are so dumb that they don't realize that I have posting photographic proof on the web for over a year now (including a photo of the guy that actually did the dumping) and I am going to of course call the police immediately after posting this. I'm so frustrated with this businesses total lack of respect for the community that I don't know what to do. I've contacted Carol Lawson (lawsocl1@bp.com) their local community relations consultant, I've contacted Richard Smith (smithrl22@bp.com) with website community relations and I've even tried contacting John Browne, the group chief executive of BP Global, AMPM's parent company (brownej@bp.com). Not only have they not cleaned up the problem but the only written response I've ever gotten from them has blabbed on about trying to be a good neighbor and then stated "while our efforts have been to maintain our own property we respect your concern as a neighborhood resident, with collection of trash on the city street". Guess what AMPM? It is clearly defined by law that in the city of Seattle that the property owner is responsible for maintaining the 'parking strip' or area between the private property and the road. I would think this would count double when you have been caught red handed dumping trash. Obviously AMPM is not taking my threats seriously so I hope that anyone that reads this and is concerned about the neighborhood takes a minute to email the people above and to let them know that this will not be tolerated.

giving credit

although it pains me to admit it, AMPM actually did something right today. I was driving home from work when I noticed someone behind their shop. It seemed suspicious so I went to investigate and was shocked to find someone actually cleaning! It had been so long since anyone had cleaned or mowed that he was forced to use a weed wacker to get to all of the trash. BUT SOMEONE WAS ACTUALLY CLEANING THE AMPM!!!! Way to go AMPM! I tried to ask him some questions as this may be the only time they actually clean up their property, but the guy is wasn't very helpful. Oh well... an excellent start.

UPDATE: I thought he was cleaning only to find out the next day that he had taken the trash and dumped it on the neighbors property. Way to go AMPM!

ampm never enough trash

Here is the photo that started it all, trash and abandon van along side of an AMPM for weeks without anyone from the store reporting it. I mailed this photo to their public relations dept in Feb of 2005.

AMPM is a dark hole in the universe

I know that this is getting old, but I am just on a role today and I can't believe that after working on this for a year they are still not picking up their garbage. Here is a copy of emails that I sent to Richard Smith at BP community relations (AM/PM's parent company) which they still have not even bothered to respond to. Try to keep in mind that AMPM brags on their website that " At ampm, we believe in giving back to our local communities" Giving What?!? Trash? Urban blight? Underage drinking? What a bunch of hypocrites.


Hello Richard,

It has now been over a year since I first contacted you about the trash problem at the AM PM at 5620 Martin Luther Jr Way. In this last year I have not seen any improvement in cleaning up of the area. As a matter of fact I have seen the area get worse and worse, is there nothing that can be done to improve this store? I travel extensively for business and I have noticed clean and well landscaped AM PM's in many cities that I have visited as well as many well kept stores here in Seattle. Why is it that this particular store is so neglected? I'm attaching a photo taken today behind the store of some old chairs and a shopping cart that have been there over a week (please excuse the phone camera quality). Simply adding trash cans, reporting illegal dumping and doing some basic landscaping would make a huge difference. There is even a stump lying on the side of the store that has been there for well over a year. Taking pride in your business would help others to take pride in our neighborhood.

Thank you,

Joel L

Joel wrote:

> Hi Richard,
>
> Thank you for your prompt response. I live in a neighborhood that has an AM PM at 5620 MARTIN LUTHER JR WAY
> SEATTLE, WA 98118-2239. Along the edge of the property is an empty lot which is also owned by your parent company which you have chosen to fence off. Unfortunately this has created a situation where people feel comfortable dumping abandon cars and piles of trash along the side street South Findlay . This has become a hazard to my neighborhood and is attracting other crime including homeless people and even now people abandoning animals in the abandon cars. I realize that you can't control the actions of others but I do feel that your company can do more to help clean up this area and make the neighborhood safer for everyone including your customers and employees. At the very least I think that your employees could be reporting abandon vehicles and trash to the city rather than leaving the task to others. I think that it also might a good idea to post no dumping signs along your property rather than the beer and cigarette advertisements that you post along your fence now, these banners only provide more cover for people engaging in illegal activities and make it harder for neighbors to keep an eye on what is obviously a problem area. I am open to any other suggestions on how you can help deal with this situation and I wanted to give your company ample opportunity to respond to these problems before it needs to be dealt with by the city and with the press.
>
> I am enclosing a photograph of how the side of your property appeared just the other day.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Joel
>
>
> Smith, Richard wrote:
>
>> Please mail to this email address.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: WEBSITE - DO NOT REPLY [mailto:aweslowski@rpa.com] Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 10:45 AM
>> To: sohailtest@yahoo.com; Smith, Richard
>> Subject: ampm Website Customer Relations Feedback
>>
>>
>>
>> MLK, Seattle, WA
>>
>> Comments:
>> I am having an ongoing problem with one of your stores and I have some
>> digital pictures that I would like to send you but I need an actual
>> email address that I can send them to.
>>
>> Thank you

AM PM Minimart, sucks the life out of the neighborhood

Remember my post from October about the uprooted stump that I said had been there for months? After talking to neighbors I now realize that the stump has been there for years! Way to go AM PM Minimart! Nice addition to the neighborhood, do you think the old dead stump to going to start growing soon? Business along MLK in Seattle have been struggling because of the impact from Light Rail construction, but AM PM minimart seem to just be shooting itself in the foot by having such a trashy business. Special thanks to the homeless people that stopped drinking their 40oz beers and got off the stump long enough for me to take another picture.

AM PM Minimart, worst neighbor on the planet

Ok, it's been over a month now since I posted about the trash behind their building (but still on their property!!) and guess what?!? Even after writing several letters to their corporate headquarters and telling the clerks that work there, the same trash is still there! Please excuse the crappy cell phone photos but you get the idea. And as a bonus other people have started dumping trash across the alley. Why shouldn't they? If it's ok to dump trash on AM PM property then for sure it is ok to dump trash out in the public alley! AM PM Minimart is the worst neighbor on the planet and getting worse every day

not even trying

I see AM PM minimarts everywhere I go, it seems like they are in every major city (at least on the west coast) Some are better than others when it comes to being clean. Except of course for the one in my neighborhood, it is a total pit that is constantly spewing more garbage into the local area. If you will excuse the lousy cell phone picture, here is yet another image of trash stacked up behind the building. It's been there for weeks, I finally just decided to take a picture of it and share it with the world.

Yup, those are some chairs that someone dumped and if you look closely behind that you can see a whole shopping cart full of crap. At least they are not even pretending to care.