Regina’s Heritage residents fed up with excessive garbage piles

It’s been a frustrating battle for the Heritage community as efforts to rid the area of debris are often short-lived with additional garbage frequently appearing the very next morning.

Wendy Miller, the executive director of the Heritage Community Association, says food insecurity initiatives, as well as addictions and mental health supports, may be creating more litter. The association has received numerous complaints regarding garbage in the community.

“With the snow melting, and the warmer temperatures, we’re definitely noticing a lot of garbage has come to the surface,” explained Miller. “It’s a lot more traffic in the community for potentially people going through the bins that are located out in the alleys.”

The Heritage Community Association will be doing their annual community clean-up on June 1. With their Good Neighbour Agreement with Carmichael Outreach, the two agencies do clean-ups together and the Heritage Community Association is asking community members to take preventative action.

“We encourage our residents to put their bins inside of their yard to avoid people going through them,” she said. “Currently we’re working with the city, (and) we try to forward blocks that need some specific assistance as they come to us.”

Miller added the city has a debris team that puts extra attention on the Heritage as well as North Central communities. The association submits reports to the city regarding some locations that are boarded up, cleaned up or taken down to provide a safer area.

A resident in the Heritage Community says she’s contacted the city several times to deal with the garbage issue in her neighbourhood but nothing is being done at the moment.

“I’ve been told they are dealing with the issue, but you can see they are not,” said Jolie Smith. “I would like to tell the city to do their job and clean up the garbage.”

In an email statement, City of Regina officials said they have dedicated resources to provide additional supports for the Heritage and North Central neighbourhoods to combat litter issues.

“The City’s debris team works five days a week cleaning public areas in both Heritage and North Central neighbourhoods starting mid-March until November, weather permitting. They do not tidy on private property,” the statement read. “City staff can issue violation warnings and fines for the improper use of waste carts, including overfilled carts or materials left outside of cart, carts left in alleys after collection, and carts not secured on private property and will continue to respond to excess litter and debris issues on a case-by-case basis.”

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