MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A southeast Memphis homeowner called the Problem Solvers for help after trash continually piled up on her street.
“We keep our yards up, obey safety rules required, we put our garbage out on time,” Flora Childres said. “This is a result of two weeks of trash, recycling and overflow that should’ve been picked up first week of may. Nothing has occurred. I’ve called every day.”
In fact, the Memphis 311 website showed Childres and her neighbors are calling; her location showed more than 20 calls recently. But all of these reports were marked “closed,” showing the situation was resolved or that a supervisor is handling it.
“I haven’t heard anything back from them,” Childres said. “We’re not getting results.”
The WREG Problem Solvers contacted city officials and asked why their pickups are being delayed as well as why their 311 complaints are showing closed.
“Is that a ploy for the media and other people to see that the city of Memphis is handling their cases but they’re not? Because this is not closed. This has not even been addressed,” Childres said.
She said city officials told her sanitation was running a little behind. But since sanitation has been considered an “essential service” during the pandemic, she didn’t think that explained this much of a delay.
Memphis officials responded and said they had identified a “service collection gap” in this area and expected to resolve the issue by Saturday. They did not address the 311 statuses.