HOUSTON — Heavy trash has been piling up for months on streets in the Fifth Ward and people there say they are fed up. Some going as far as removing it themselves and putting up no dumping signs.
They say it's frustrating for several reasons and recently due to finding a dead pet wrapped in a blanket, leaves them concerned of what else they might find.
"No dumping allowed," it's a simple message that’s not being followed, judging by the piles of junk on Moses Street.
"People come through it and it’ll be in the streets right now. It’s pushed back. We pushed it back," said Stephanie Garcia.
Garcia's family has lived in this area since 1983 and wants to stay. She and her husband put the signs up themselves to try to stop it.
"It worked, I wanna say for half a year," Garcia said.
The trash is back and then some. She says the community is seeing a revitalization it has never seen, and all this is slowing the process. Calls to the city and solid waste department haven’t helped.
"This is just getting bigger," Garcia said. "And it’s getting bigger everywhere."
Just one block away on Providence is a twin pile. Toshiba Smith has lived here his whole live too and says it's cleared out from time to time. But outsiders keep bringing it back.
"It's people you see people coming off the highway with a truck load of stuff," he said.
He says you almost get used to it, but are reminded when the paint and slimy runoff end up right in front of his home.
"How would they like it if they dump it in their front yard. They wouldn’t want all this trash in their area."
Garcia cares for the block and her aging mother, and years after first moving in, is overwhelmed by it all.
"When I take her on a walk in her wheelchair she’s like in Spanish ,'A dios.'"
KHOU is waiting for a response from solid waste. However listed on their website is an alert saying crews are running behind due to higher-than-expected volumes of bulk waste, and are working to catch up.