St. Paul’s nurse calls for action on garbage around Saskatoon hospital

This is the property I've probably reported the most. Darryl Schreiner only needs to walk a block from Saskatoon's St. Paul's hospital to find what he considers an eyesore. Schreiner has worked as a nurse at St. Paul's for 20 years. He wants the city to clean up these properties where trash has become a problem. Just seeing it here and then seeing a couple blocks away you can just, it's contagious in my mind like it's just like if if it happens here why should I bother cleaning Cleaning my lot up over here and it just feels like it's going to spread this whole. The area around here has gotten really bad in the last few years. The hospital is located in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood. Schreiner thinks the trash contributes to stereotypes about the area. The west side, you know, the west side does have a reputation. It's, you know, it's where all the crime is. It's where all the poor people live. It's, you know, you put all the problems over there and forget about them. And it's, you know, it's dirty and it's not. There's so many nice areas here and so many nice neighbourhoods. Property maintenance complaints are handled by the fire department. But the department is facing a list of hundreds of complaints. Nearly 1,500 are awaiting a first look by bylaw inspectors. And garbage is seen as a lower priority. But the city councilor who represents the area wants to explore other tools to address these issues. How can we address and ensure that landlords, property owners, really take... The fire department says it's not ignoring these complaints, but more urgent issues like encampments take priority. The department ranks concerns threatening people's lives or property first. That leaves trash at the bottom of a long pile of complaints. Bill Tank, CBC News, Saskatoon.