City Howl Help Desk: It's the squeaky-clean street that gets the grease in NoLibs

IT TAKES only a day to turn a well-kept side street into a big, greasy pit.

It's happened twice in the last month on Orianna Street in Northern Liberties, a local business owner named Christina tells us. One day Orianna looked fine. The next, there was a huge, sticky wet spot on the sidewalk.

At first, Christina thought it was water. But it never dried up, and the stuff got all over her dog's paws. It also reeked of food. Christina guessed that it was used cooking oil.

Before we keep going, we should tell you that one of the main reasons Orianna looks good at all is that Christina and her family keep it clean. It's a side street behind the Cigar Factory Lofts, on 4th Street, so it's easy to ignore.

But not for Christina. She and her husband clean up after the short-dumpers and the dog owners who don't pick up after their dogs in the alley. The couple even paint over the graffiti they can reach.

Christina, whose business is around the corner, has clients come from out-of-state, and she doesn't want them to see Orianna Street a mess. So, you can understand why the grease dump got to her.

"Of all the things that have been dumped," she said, "that's the grossest."

Not only is it gross, but grease can clog the city's sewer system if it gets in there.

The second time it happened, a few weeks ago, Christina and her husband tried to clean the mess up with hot water and detergent. It didn't work. The oil was "pretty heavy duty," she said.

We checked out the mess with Christina last week, and the oily wet spot was still at large. There was no sign of the dumper - just some greasy tire tracks. So we set out to get the mess cleaned up.

SPILL BABY SPILL? We heard from other residents that grease- dumping isn't unique to Northern Liberties. Sarah McEneaney, president of the Callowhill Neighborhood Association, said that it has been a problem in her neighborhood - often just containers of oil left in vacant lots.

With all the deep-frying going on in Philadelphia's food establishments, how does the city make sure that restaurants get rid of used cooking oil properly? Health Department spokesman Jeff Moran said that on routine restaurant inspections, inspectors make sure that owners have a plan for oil disposal, including the name of a contractor who'll be picking up the used oil. We spoke with a restaurant owner who confirmed this practice.

But that's as far as it goes. Inspectors do not contact contractors to make sure that they are indeed picking up the oil at a restaurant.

If an inspector sees a restaurant improperly disposing of oil, he either refers the violation to the Water Department or the Streets Department, depending on where the oil is going: down the drain or in the street.

That's confusing, but don't worry: All you have to do is call 3-1-1. Tell them the problem, and 3-1-1 will direct it to the right department.

If the Water Department finds out that a restaurant hasn't been disposing of its oil properly, it will bill the owner for clean up of the oil, among other things, according to a 2009 grease-disposal flier from the Water Department.

Depending on the issue, the Streets Department will either pick up the containers of oil or clean the greasy street, said Deputy Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams. It also will try to identify the dumper so that the department can issue a violation.

After we spoke with Williams, he sent a crew to power-wash the sidewalk. Christina was happy with the results and said that she'd try 3-1-1 if it happened again.

GREASE LIGHT-ENING: There was one more question on our minds: Why dump grease? We called a few companies that pick up used cooking oil, and we found out that, generally, the service is free. In fact, companies will actually pay you for your used cooking oil because it's a valuable resource. It's used to make biodiesel fuel, among other things.

Unfortunately, there are still people who pay to get their cooking oil picked up, said Brenda McNeil, a spokeswoman for Waste Oil Recyclers, which pays up to 75 cents per gallon of oil, depending on the quality.

So, listen up, restaurant owners: Get your cooking oil picked up! It's so easy, there's no excuse not to.