Temple University Takes Action After Some Students Leave Heaps Of Garbage Behind In North Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Temple University is taking action to clean up part of North Philadelphia Thursday after neighbors complained about heaps of garbage left behind by some students who recently moved out.
Crews used shovels and a lot of manpower to clear furniture and piles of junk left on sidewalks in North Philadelphia.
"We're on a mission. We're gonna try to help Temple University and the city of Philadelphia to get rid of some of this ugliness," Darnell Scott said.
Scott is with the community-based organization One Day At a Time. It's contracted by Temple to pick up trash off of city streets and sidewalks here in North Philly.
"We gotta take this stuff off the block, it gotta disappear," Scott said.
Eyewitness News was in the neighborhood Wednesday as neighbors admitted some garbage may be from residents, but they say much of these big trash piles are from Temple students who recently moved out.
"The trash was Monday. Do yo you see that right there? That means that has to sit there til next week," a woman said.
"It's a disappointment," Temple Director of Community and Neighbor Affairs Andrea Swan said. " We try to encourage our students to donate unwanted items. That doesn't always happen, that's pretty obvious. So we're doing the best that we can with the resources that we have."
She also says even though this is off-campus, Temple hired three trash companies to clear the mess. Plus, Temple police and the school's football team all pitched in.
"Most of our students are really responsible students," Swan said.
When looking at some of the sidewalks Wednesday compared to now, many sidewalks are finally cleared. Neighbors are thankful to be able to walk down them without having to step over garbage.
"I'm glad, thank God," Francis Ezell said.
"It's nice to see it being cleaned up," Tom Bell said.