CLEVELAND — Kimberly Sterling reports trash troubles have her concerned about the safety of her three children every time they come and go from their CMHA apartment on Worley Avenue on Cleveland's east side.
Sterling, other tenants, and homeowners living across the street from the apartment complex managed by the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority told News 5 unsecured trash piling up on the street has been an issue since last October, and it's been causing a problem with wild animals threatening people and children in the neighborhood.
“It’s nasty, you don’t want to live like that, it's trashy, you’re scared something might happen to one of your kids because of all of the trash out here and all the animals that are out here attacking," Sterling said. “We had to move our garbage cans, did have them at our house, but the raccoons were attacking, when you’d come out there would be raccoons, so we all decide to put them up there on the street; that was the safest move for us.”
Homeowners and those living near the Worley Avenue neighborhood, like Lauren and Jeff Bodziony, told News 5 they contacted CMHA headquarters numerous times about unsecured trash blowing into yards and problems with late trash pick-up. Lauren Bodziony said CMHA would respond, but has still failed to provide a permanent solution, so she took a series of pictures over the past several months to document the chronic problem.
"They don’t call me back; but they come and clean it up right after I leave messages," Bodziony said. "Then the next day, someone will come and clean the whole thing spotless....but then the issue just comes back days later; these are nice people who work really hard, they’re homeowners who keep their houses really nice and they have trash blowing in their yards."
Jeff Bodziony told News 5 he believes poor trash management by CMHA is now promoting illegal dumping in the neighborhood, and he's hoping the agency will provide a larger and more secure trash system for the neighborhood.
“It is a safety issue to every resident on the street as more and more vagrant animals come around to get the stuff," Bodziony said. “Once there’s a place that’s identified by people who are dumping, as in, 'hey, we can dump here,' people are coming and just dumping anything, so it doesn’t mean that it’s all coming from the residents.”
News 5 contacted CMHA headquarters about the trash issue, and it responded immediately with the following statement:
"The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) strives to address concerns at our properties when we become aware of them. Since the handling of trash in this instance appears to be a recurring issue, we will assess the conditions and implement solutions to address it. In the future, those neighbors with concerns regarding CMHA-managed properties may call (216) 431-1471, option 1."
Jeff Bodziony is hoping changes in CMHA trash collection protocol in his neighborhood will come as soon as possible.
“We shouldn’t have to say, 'oh one day I hope that we could have proper trash pick-up,' it should just be a normal thing that we have in our neighborhood,” Bodziony said. “Something like this would never go on for this long in any place outside of Cleveland. I can’t imagine in Westlake, if something like this was going on, they would be on it the moment you called.”
News 5 will continue to follow through on this developing story.
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