City cleans up garbage at Dundas Street North encampment

The City of Cambridge has finally cleaned up a pile of garbage that had been accumulating over several weeks in front of an encampment adjacent to the Dundas Street North overpass at Samuelson Street.

City bylaw staff and Conestoga Contracting Group were on site Wednesday afternoon to complete the work a day after CambridgeToday published a story about the city's refusal to pick up the garbage because it was attempting to contact the property owner first.

City bylaw manager John Mattocks told CambridgeToday on Monday the garbage would have to wait until the owner of the property could be contacted and had a chance to clean it up on their own. The city had been unsuccessful in its attempt to speak to the property owner.

Typically when the city is called in for property standards violations, it bills property owners any clean up costs.

Mattocks did not mention a scheduled cleanup of the site when speaking about the issue Monday.

A bylaw officer on site today wouldn't say at what point they were directed to do the work. She instead directed any questions to the city's communications team. A representative from Conestoga Contracting Group confirmed the work was scheduled but was unsure of when.

Multiple attempts to gain clarification on the issue from the city were unsuccessful but they did say the work was "scheduled."

City communications advisor Theresa Chiavaroli reached out to CambridgeToday earlier today to ask for a correction. She said the city was not waiting to contact the property owner and said a cleanup had been scheduled before our story was published.

But she wouldn't clarify when contractors were notified and didn't respond when asked why it wasn't mentioned to the reporter.

Brian Kitchen, a resident of the encampment, said workers simply showed up this morning.

"They said 'sorry for the short notice but we're here to clean this stuff up,'" Kitchen said.

"I said 'oh really? That's interesting.' Then my son came back and said he read the story in CambridgeToday that the city was refusing to clean up the garbage out front. So, they came in today and cleaned up in a hurry because they're embarrassed."

Kitchen has long vouched for a garbage bin to be placed at the entrance of the encampment to avoid the situation in the future but says he's been told it won't be happening.

"I've asked every bylaw officer I know," he said.

"Just throw a bin there and everyone can throw their garbage in. They'll never give us one."

A truck that caught fire last week at the location has also been removed.

The city previously cleaned the entire site at the cost of $40,000.

No cost estimate was given for the work today.