Trash mountains, “unbelievable” stench take over Philadelphia as municipal workers’ strike continues

By Dan Snyder, Ed Specht

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — As the Philadelphia municipal workers’ strike continues without an agreement, mountains of trash continue to pile, and the city is starting to smell. Many city streets are lined with piles of garbage, some so big that they’re taller than people.

At Princeton and Hawthorne in the city’s Mayfair neighborhood, a heaping mound of trash has grown so large it has forced the city to put up tape and direct people to a sanitation convenience center at State and Ashburner for them to drop off their garbage.

“The stench is unbelievable,” Felix Romelien of Mayfair said.

“Wasn’t nice in the car because of the smell,” Dave Kennedy, of Mayfair, said. “It’s not fun.”

Trash continued to pile up Thursday at the corner of Princeton and Hawthorne in Mayfair. Most people who stopped by abandoned the dumpster or were unwilling to navigate their way around the growing mounds of garbage to get there.

“No, actually it’s grown,” Romelien said. “In the past couple of days, it’s grown so much.”

“It’s just going to keep piling up, piling up,” Patrick Glynn of Mayfair said. “We’re going to have rats here tonight like this.”

Glynn lives near one of the 63 temporary drop-off sites set up throughout the city.

“This is what you see,” Glynn said. “It’s only going to get worse and worse.”

Frank Copley lives across the street.

“It’s frustrating what they’re doing to the city,” Copley said.

The two men said one of their biggest frustrations as they’ve watched the trash pile mount is seeing people dump seemingly anything and everything.

“People are leaving furniture, beds, TVs,” Copley said.

“They’re just coming here and dumping,” Glynn said. “Contractors. I’ve seen people doing lawn, landscaping stuff thrown out here. I’ve seen the whole nine yards.”

Neighbors also pointed out that this city drop-off site is located about 50 yards from Mayfair Elementary, a school that is still hosting children in summer programs. People in the area questioned the placement of the dumpster.

“They’ve got two football fields, parking lot,” Copley said. “Why did they have to put it in the middle of the sidewalk?”

A school security officer came out after 1 p.m. and placed caution tape around the entire site.

A spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia said they cannot comment on the drop-off sites. We’ve reached out to the city for a statement and are waiting to hear back.

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