Residents Furious After Dumpsters Are Hauled Off At Low-Income Housing Complex, Not Returned For Days
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A private trash company hauled away the dumpsters from a low-income housing complex this past Friday, and no one provided any replacements until this week.
Residents said they were left with no option but to pile their garbage bags in the parking lots, and they told CBS 2's Tim McNicholas they still don't have an explanation.
In Ancient Rome, Concordia was known as the goddess of harmony and agreement. At Concordia Place, at 13037 S. Daniel Dr. in the Far South Side's Riverdale neighborhood, harmony is hard to find.
"It's disrespectful," said Nydia Foster. "We are tired of the disrespect."
"It makes me feel like no one cares about us out here," said Keonna Sargent.
"They don't care about us," said Deborah Lewis. "They don't care."
"No one is hearing us," added Foster. "No one is helping us."
The residents typically dispose of their trash in dumpsters. But they got hauled off Friday, without an alternative for at least three days.
"I felt like a dog, because I'm like, 'Do they expect us to have this garbage in our homes, smelling?'" Sargent said. "So then, we bring the garbage out here where the dumpsters was, and then now its piled up all over the entire complex."
The complex is privately managed by a New York-based company called Capital Realty Group, but the tenants receive federal assistance through Section 8.
Management finally sent out memos this week, apologizing and explaining temporary dumpsters would be onsite a few days starting Monday until permanent ones could return – which finally happened Wednesday.
"We deserve to live like everyone else and it's not fair," Foster said. "We have children we have to care for, and its deplorable for them."
Management sent two security guards to escort McNicholas off the property – which tenants recorded on their phones.
"They're trying to silence us!" a tenant said.
A Concordia Place spokesperson later apologized for that, and said the complex is still trying to figure out why Republic Services hauled off the dumpsters.
Before we got booted Tuesday, we did see workers cleaning up some of the trash.
Whatever the problem is, the residents hope it gets sorted out for good, so Concordia Place can live up to its namesake.
"Ain't no way we should live like this," Lewis said.
Republic Services would not answer any of our questions.
