Baltimore, MD (WJZ) — Baltimore’s trash and dumping issues have inspired more out-state-groups to help clean up.
President Trump’s criticism of living conditions and trash in parts of West Baltimore caught the attention of the traveling trashmen.
Some trash collectors from New York and Florida volunteered to clean up in the city- and scraping and scrapping was heard in West Baltimore on Thursday.
“I love to hear it. That means someone is cleaning up,” said Sherrie Gray, Baltimore resident.
They cleaned up and then cleared out the streets.
“I hear perfection. That’s what I hear,” Gray said.
“Dirty, filthy. People throw trash everywhere. It takes the city three to four months to come clean it up, you know,” said resident Earl Martin.
Residents said it takes months for the city to respond- and it took two weeks of news coverage for this volunteer group to step in.
“We’re garbage men. They have a garbage problem, so we figured who better than us to try to help with the problem,” said the “Traveling Trashmen” John Rourke.
Maggio Environmental out of New York and All-American Sanitation out of Jupiter, Florida, came in to work to clean up the area.
“if one person comes up and picks up one piece of trash, you know, it’s a help,” said resident Devin Allen.
“They shouldn’t have to come from out of town to clean our neighborhood. The residents should do it,” Gray said.
Residents did pitch in.
Deontra Holland saw what they were doing and started cleaning too.
“It’s market stuff. Trash, chip bags, everything. Anything you can imagine back here,” said Deontra Holland.
Alleyways, some feel, are long-neglected.
“The alleys? It’s pure dumping. And, honestly, it’s expensive to dump at the landfill,” Rourke said.
They said the problem is not about politics.
“This is the country part. Americans helping Americans.” said Anthony Gusmano, another “Traveling Trashmen”
“The cleaning up is a good start, but there’s a whole lot more work that definitely needs to be done,” Allen said.
The crew did more than pick up trash Thursday. They also came across two men who appeared to have overdosed and gave them the reversal drug Narcan to revive them.
