Outside of the Metro Center Mall in Jackson, city workers have made three roll-off dumpsters available for residents to drop off their trash.
“I feel terrible. I’ve just now had to come out in this rain and dump trash and try to help some people who are less fortunate than me, ain’t got no legs and stuff, and try to get their garbage and stuff. It doesn’t make any sense,” says Jackson resident Albert Anderson. He’s dropping off several bags of trash he was able to transport in his pickup truck. Anderson says garbage routes haven’t run in nearly two weeks because city leadership can’t come to an agreement. “The Mayor don’t care, they think it’s a politic or a game. Why if it was up to me I’d fire every last one of them. Get me a whole new staff.”
Some neighborhoods throughout Jackson have also attempted to care for their residents by supplying private dumping locations. But, city leaders say those expenses can not be reimbursed. Carlos Johnson, who runs a lawn business, says he has been loading trucks full of trash to take to a dump. But when the landfills were too muddy to access safely, he visited the mall roll-off site where he was turned away for bulk dumping.
“You see a lot of stuff, man. You got elderly folks man who have disabled kids who can’t take their garbage out. And it just keeps piling up,” says Johnson. “I had a protocol that said I only want to pick up four bags, because I don’t want to pick up a bulk of garbage, and you can’t do what you want to do for the other people. But I’m coming to find out, garbage has to pile up because they’re older people and can’t get it to the street.”
Jackson’s Mayor says the city must work out an emergency contract soon because each day without one could bring growing fines, environmental hazards and community frustrations.
