WORCESTER, Mass. — A pristine Worcester neighborhood has been completely trashed according to residents.
The area of May Street near Asbury Road has recently been covered with trash, both on the sidewalk and behind a new fence that lines the street.
Now resident Joseph Wrixon is taking matters into his own hands. He’s cleaning up the mess when he can and asking others to do their part.
“It takes two seconds, it takes two seconds for somebody not to put it there,” he said. “I don’t want to get tons of people in trouble, I don't want to be that guy, but we've got to attack it now, we've got to stop it now.”
While walking his dog Maddie around 9 a.m. Wednesday, he shot a video of the trash and posted it to the Truth About Worcester Facebook page.
With the help of neighbor Alex Lea, Wrixon is combatting the trash and hoping not to get police and city officials involved.
“We'll be making some phone calls and maybe they can do their part,” Lea said.
Some people have raised concerns that students from nearby Worcester State College are to blame. The college responded by organizing it's own cleanup.
"We have recently heard some concerns raised about trash on streets near Worcester State University. Whether or not our students have contributed to this problem, we have reminded them of the need to treat our neighbors with respect. We also are planning to have a volunteer cleanup day as we have in the past, and will explore other ways to assist our neighbors,” a statement from Worcester State University’s Assistant to the President Renae Lias Claffey said.
A spokesman for Worcester’s mayor told Boston 25 News Reporter Evan White that the city has been making efforts to step up enforcement of illegal dumping. They ask that anyone who observes it call 508-929-1300 to report it.