Marquis of Debris: Sofa, not so good in SW Philly; 3-1-1 couched in its indifference

THE TRASH on Daggett Street, in Southwest Philadelphia, is not enough to push Kim Jones, a lifetime city dweller, out of the neighborhood.

However, her next-door neighbor, Ahlicia Bullock, is ready to make a run for the 'burbs.

"I'm trying to pack up and get the hell out of here," she said on the steps of her home.

ALLEY SPAT: Neighbors on Daggett Street near Dicks Avenue are confronted with a pile of discarded couches on the street and a festering pile of garbage in an alley behind their homes.

A whopping 21 calls to the city's 3-1-1 help line have left Bullock essentially in the same place she was in nine months ago, when the trash heap appeared behind the house at 2625 Daggett - adjacent to Bullock's.

Bullock said the 3-1-1 representative she spoke with about the trash was rude, and basically told her to mind her own business.

"She said, 'If it's not on your property, you shouldn't worry about it,' " Bullock said.

Right. The mice and roaches that Jones and Bullock have seen scurrying around the trash heap are enough to worry anyone.

Adding insult to injury, a few dirty, discarded couches popped up on a small yard at 2635 Daggett four months ago, they said.

The Marquis spotted an elderly man unlocking the door to the house with the couches on the lawn, and tried to ask when he planned to have them hauled off.

In response, the man stepped inside and shut the door in the Marquis' face.

"They don't care," Jones said, adding that a shift from homeowners to renters has changed Daggett Street. "I pay taxes. If Mayor Nutter keeps going up on them, I want to be comfortable."

COME ON. REALLY? Last week, the Marquis went to Cheltenham Avenue near Frankford, where trash near two cemeteries billowed between Frankford and Wissinoming Park.

After my column was published, Sharon Brown, a neighbor, called the Marquis to report that she saw a few men tidying up the cemetery grounds.

One was armed with a weed trimmer; another had a leaf blower - and he was blowing trash onto Cheltenham Avenue.

"It's getting worse, because they seem to be doing it more often," Brown said.

"I assumed they would come on the other side of the fence to clean it up."

Like Bullock and Jones, Brown said she also called 3-1-1, but hadn't gotten anywhere.

Don't forget: If you have any trash issues, drop me a line at trash@ phillynews.com, or catch me on

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