The piles of garbage around Dinkytown got so bad this week that resident Sonny Schneiderhan took to the street. Armed with a camera and a growing sense of outrage, she chronicled the mess left behind as students decamped from their apartments and dorm rooms ahead of the incoming wave of new arrivals.
Her photos show garbage piled high on street corners and at the ends of driveways. The piles of boxes, broken furniture and trash-filled bags stand next to overflowing garbage cans meant for weekly trash service.
"They could hire a dumpster," said Schneiderhan, who wants the University to clean up its act.
Instead the annual trash-out has become an annual rite of passage in Dinkytown, she said, one that wouldn't be allowed anywhere else.
"It's worse this year," she said.
UPDATE: Upon seeing this post, a city spokesman told the Star Tribune that the city had crews in the Dinkytown neighborhoods since Aug. 27 looking for extra trash. Those crews will continue working until Saturday, said city spokesperson Casper Hill.
Told that the garbage has been piling up in some places for up to a week, he said the three-day weekend may have slowed the pickup somewhat.
The city also sent an email Aug. 20 warning property owners that they would be billed for extra garbage cleanup. It encouraged owners to plan ahead for the garbage mess by, among other things, hiring city crews at a rate of $181 an hour to clean up properties.
The letter, with more details on how property owners should prepare, is included below:
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