Trash piling up in Silver Lake, getting worse, residents say

SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Silver Lake residents breathed a sigh of relief after city sanitation crews cleaned up piles of trash from a sidewalk Thursday.

Locals in the neighborhood said the problem of trash cluttering up the sidewalks started six months ago.

Martha Gonzalez said she's lived in her Silver Lake neighborhood for decades. She said the problem of trash piling up on the sidewalks and alley's is getting bad. She said she's lived near Virgil at Beverly for 30 years.

"It looks very different. I'm glad that this is happening. All the sicknesses that people got from the trash and everything, it's terrible. I'm glad they're doing something," Gonzalez said.

Workers with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, were helping a homeless woman gather what she wanted to keep as a sanitation crew waited to pick up what was left.

Rene Ayala said he walks by it everyday with his daughter. He said he likes that the city is cleaning up. He said the smell of the trash can be sickening.

"I noticed it more and more, people living on the street, it's terrible," John Pollard said.

Local residents hope that when sanitation crews are done cleaning up, the city will be able to keep the sidewalks clean and clear.

L.A. city residents facing a similar problem can log on to the L.A. Bureau of Sanitation website and fill out a request for trash pick up.