Pastor calls for help with South Memphis dumping site
UPDATE: We reached out to the city of Memphis to get the latest on the property and they released the following statement,
“The city’s Environmental Code Enforcement currently has one active 311 service request for this location. The owner will receive a citation to Shelby County Environmental Court for failing to bring the site into compliance. The overwhelming majority of those responsible for this illegal act are involved in commercial enterprises looking to reduce their overhead by avoiding landfill fees. The list of commercial enterprises includes tire dealers and haulers, tree trimming companies, general contractors, construction companies, and landlords. The city encourages residents to report illegal dumping to the City’s 311 Service Center.”
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Illegal dumping is taking over an abandoned apartment complex in South Memphis, and one pastor is calling for change and asking WREG for help.
Pastor Walter Womack of Faithful Baptist Church and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is fed up with what he continually sees at a site off West Peebles near his church — discarded boards, mattresses and clothes.
A sign nearby says if you dump your trash in this parking lot you could face a fine or jail time, but that’s clearly not stopping those responsible.
Womack says he’s called 311 about the problem but it remains. He knows sites like this are part of a bigger issue.
“Poverty and blight has a direct correlation to crime,” he said. “When we see properties that are abandoned and used for dump sites, we’re saying to the neighborhood, ‘We don’t care.'”
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He also believes it’s a health hazard.
“It’s probably rodent-infested with rats, and so it’s an environmental hazard,” he said.
Womack was one of the dozens who attended a community meeting this weekend in South Memphis with city leaders, focusing on stopping blight and illegal dumping.
“I’m optimistic that there’s going to be a change with our new administration, our mayor,” he said.
He believes combating problems like this takes collaboration.
“We need some preventative measures in place because it’s happening over and over again so we have to get to the root cause of this dumping.”
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