The Politics of Garbage: A backlog of leaves bumps into complex past
A sanitation worker tosses an old, water-logged suitcase into a garbage truck while making the rounds in the Evergreen neighborhood of Midtown Jan. 31, 2020. Some sanitation workers are upset over compulsory overtime to clear a backlog of leaf pickups. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
The city's response to a backlog in picking up leaves reveals just how politically volatile the city's most basic service can be -- and has been -- for decades.
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Jim Strickland AFSCME Maurice Spivey Solid Waste Division 1968 Sanitation StrikeBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
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