MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An illegal eviction in South Memphis turned a street into a dumping ground for all sorts of items, including a toilet, mattresses, roofing materials and tires.
People will find some gross items in front of an empty lot on Cannon Street, but neighbor Antonio Cathey showed us the worst.
“The toilet is full of feces,” Cathey said.
He says over recent months, the pile has gotten worse.
“It’s been accumulating by people just driving and dumping trash,” Cathey said.
The more it builds, the bigger eyesore it becomes. It’s also a health hazard.
Bugs are starting to hover around it.
“It’s gotten to the point where it’s unsanitary and out of hand,” Cathey said.
Along with those issues, neighbors also say it’s taking up about two parking spaces.
Kids and elderly people, including Cathey’s own grandmother, live on the street.
“We have called the city. We have called the mayor’s office, but nobody has done anything about it – not anything. It’s been going on for months,” Cathey said.
He says just because it’s not a wealthy neighborhood doesn’t mean they deserve to live in filth.
“People don’t care about us. They just treat it like it’s a dump,” Cathey said.
We reached out to the city and found the root of the problem is an illegal eviction.
Any landlord or property owner who puts the property on the curb is supposed to notify the city within 24 hours or the next business day.
The city will clean it up if the owner doesn’t, and will then charge the owner for removal.
After we contacted the city, they sent crews out to clean it up Thursday afternoon.
We’re working to find out who the property owner is.
