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Marquis of Debris: SWEEP to help clean this mess

ARE YOU FED UP with filth in Philly? Email me at trash@phillynews. com, or find my page on Facebook.

ARE YOU FED UP with filth in Philly? Email me at trash@phillynews. com, or find my page on Facebook.

NO HOUSE, NO SERVICE: Last week I met Joe Moran, who lives in Grays Ferry and was ticked that trash collectors who rumble down Newkirk Street aren't required to pick up garbage that is illegally dumped on Reed Street near 28th.

Streets Department officials said that since no homes are on that block, there should be no trash to collect.

If only it were that simple.

Hefty bags, soda bottles, a few dirty diapers and even an unwanted wooden door slumped against a post on Reed last week.

The Streets and Walkway Education and Enforcement Program (SWEEP) will investigate who is responsible for the illegal dumping, then send trash collectors around to pick up the garbage after completing their regular routes.

THE NO HOMES-no trash rule is likely what's keeping Merion Avenue between 49th and 52nd Street in West Philly looking a mess, aside from people who leave used tires, broken TVs and couches. At some point, this forgotten stretch of road became an outpost for illegal dumping, and black bags of trash are among the least-imposing items left behind. A broken-down van sits to the side of the road and is stuffed with used tires.

The only sign of life on this section of the street is Lancaster Scrap Metal and Used Auto Parts; however its phone is disconnected and no one was around when the Marquis visited.

City property records say the land is owned by SNDT International, a Philadelphia-based company listed with the same address and phone number as the auto-parts shop. Three guesses where the mountains of tires and car bumpers are from.

WALKING DREAD: In Wissinoming, neighbors said groundskeepers at Mount Carmel Cemetery on Cheltenham Avenue near Frankford blow trash from their property out onto the street, even after the Marquis visited.

Michael Levy, of Har Nebo Cemetery, his family's company, which owns Mount Carmel, acknowledges that it happens sometimes but says he's annoyed too with the trail of trash.

"Dead people don't litter," he said. "It's not my litter. It's the citizens that litter, and the city doesn't do anything about it."

That still doesn't explain why his workers don't pick up what they blow out.

Maybe neighbors and Levy can work together to organize regular cleanups with the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee. And maybe Levy can get his workers to bring some trash bags.