MEMPHIS, Tenn. —Residents in a Hickory Hill neighborhood are sick of an eye-sore that just won’t go away.
Joanne Harding and her husband Ken drive past a pile of dumped stuff every day.
It’s on the back part of a property off Knight Arnold near Hickory Hill road.
“Mattresses, commode seat, baby stuff, tires, you name it it’s in there,” Harding said.
They say it’s been like this for two to three months.
“It’s just been out here and every time we pass by it just makes us sick because our community used to be clean,” Harding said.
The city posted a notice two days ago. It says the property owner has five days to clean this up and if he doesn’t the city will do it and charge him for what it costs.
But businesses who rent space in a building were the duping is taking place say people in the neighborhood are dumping this stuff not the property owner.
“It’s sad. It’s sad,” Hardings said.
The property’s real estate agent says the owner has been paying a service for weekly cleanup but it’s a losing battle since there’s so much stuff continually being dumped.
The city says property owners are responsible for anything dumped on their land the Hardings say that’s unfair if it’s not the owner’s fault.
“Probably unfair. Yeah, can’t control what other people do,” Ken said.
They suspect apartment residents across the street are causing the problem and think they should be responsible for cleaning it up.
“It ought to be people in these apartments that should handle it but they’re not going to. It’s just rental property. They don’t own anything so they’re just dumping it,” Harding said.
A pile of dumped stuff and a property owner who appears to be in a no-win situation.
We asked the city if there’s anything that property owner can do. The city suggested he secure his property with something like a fence.
