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When Erinn Paik takes out the garbage, it’s often not only her family’s trash she’s throwing away.
“As soon as the snow started melting, it was just piles and piles of not only trash, but just crap,” she said. “Clothing, shoes, garbage, the regular kitchen garbage, just piles of stuff everywhere.”
Paik, a homeowner in North Central, is struggling to keep up with the mounds of litter that accumulate in her back alley each Spring.
Erinn Paik said the trash left in her alley has become overwhelming to tidy. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
She would like to see the City of Regina conduct better bylaw enforcement for trash that is illegally dumped, but is losing hope that those changes will be made.
“At this point, none of us can even rely on the City or any outside help anymore,” she said.
Paik said this is the largest amount of junk heaps she’s ever seen, including appliances and shopping carts.
The amount of rubbish is a health a safety hazard, but it also can hide more dangerous items, like needles, underneath.
“This would never be okay in any other neighbourhood,” she said. “You most definitely couldn’t go into Lakeview and see this type of trash and no one be held accountable. It’s just insane.”
Alleys in North Central are filled with garbage. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
The problem goes beyond people illegally dumping their stuff in back alleys, for Paik. She believes many people are in vulnerable positions, facing evictions due to the homelessness and drug crisis and are faced with no other option but to abandon their things.
Leah O’Malley, another homeowner in the community, has found couches and tires dumped in her back alley.
“I’ve run into a situation in my location where my alley is dirtier than it has been in the last five years,” she said.
O’Malley said she has footed the cost to take larger furniture and appliances to the landfill in the past.
While she has dealt with larger heaps of junk behind her home in previous years, O’Malley said some areas are in worse shape.
In a statement from the City of Regina, it said people should contact Regina Police Service if they witness an instance of illegal dumping. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
O’Malley believes the City is in a tough position that won’t be solved easily.
She would like to see an education session incorporated for people who live in North Central when it comes to garbage clean-up, with an accountability session included for property owners.
“Maybe let’s look at this as a problem that we have to address every year and make adjustments as we go,” she said.
Paik said many people who live in North Central have a lot of pride in the community, and it could improve if this was not ignored.
“It’s sad,” she said. “These kids will grow up into adults and think that things like this are acceptable, and the only people who can change that are us, the community.”
City of Regina
In a statement from the City of Regina, it said the City’s debris team work five days a week in Heritage and North Central neighbourhoods from mid-March until November.
“The debris team cannot clean private property,” the statement read. “City staff can issue violation warnings and fines for the improper use of waste carts, including overfilled carts or materials left outside of cart, carts left in alleys after collection, and carts not secured on private property and will continue to respond to excess litter and debris issues on a case-by-case basis.”
The cost to collect abandoned and dumped garbage on public property is about $250,000 each cleaning season, it said.
Community clean-ups planned
Pat Faulconbridge, the executive director of the North Central Community Association (NCCA), said the piles of trash are very disheartening for residents.
“Some of the alleys look like the landfill,” she said. “You can’t even drive down the alley.”
Pat Faulconbridge said residents in the community have brougth forward concerns about the garbage. (Abby Zieverink/ 980 CJME)
The City of Regina introduced a back alley sweeping program to help clear some of the debris, something that Faulconbridge said has helped.
“We’d like to see an increase in finances for that project, so they can be in here more often,” Pat Faulconbridge said.
The City of Regina does provide yearly grants for the North Central Community Association and the Heritage Community Association for clean-up events.
As a board chair with the White Pony Lodge, O’Malley is working to organize a community clean-up with the help of the community association on May 3.
The City said it has provided funding for NCCA to assist in cleaning up graffiti and vandalized property for the past four years.
The community association hosts its clean up for the neighbourhood on May 31.
— with files from 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink
